The Brotherhood
by Hakureisaiga
Summary: Two brothers, different personalities. One goal: To be Hokage, only one wants to protect the people while the other wants retribution
1. Graduation

**Chapter 1- Graduation**

Twelve years ago, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked the village of Konohagakure, its ninja forces tried to defend themselves, but the demon was way too strong for them and annihilated their forces, but then their young Hokage, Minato Namikaze came to the battlefield and sealed the demon away into his firstborn son, Naruto Uzumaki.

Unknown to the major populace, another demon was sealed away…Kushina Uzumaki, the widow of Minato Namikaze sealed the Hachibi no Kitsune, the Kyuubi's brother inside of her younger son, Ishide Uzumaki.

The village was told of Naruto's burden and they hated the Uzumaki brothers for it. Several of them took it as far as to beating them to death or inflicting wounds and scars, but they both survived the hardships. One became bitter at the village for treating them like common demons while the other was deeply saddened and sought to be acknowledged.

Ishide inherited his father's personality, which was calm and collected. He also acted logically until it came to protecting something that he cared about…which was at the moment, his older brother. Naruto was much like his mother, hyperactive, brash and loud, but he had a kind heart.

Both of them has an unwavering spirit and the ability to convert others to their way of thinking, they also want the goal of the Hokage….one who wanted it to become the leader that protects the village with his own strength while the other wanted to make the oppressors pay for their injustice.

And so...their futures are uncertain and though they are on different paths, they will come together through the pact of brotherhood.

Ishide sat in the back, staring calmly outside just as Iruka called out the roster. To differentiate himself from his brother, he had his right ear lobe pierced with a wolf earring. He also had aqua eyes and his hair was blonde, but the tips were dyed black.

His attire was a long sleeved green shirt with a large cowl covering his neck and black pants that fits him tightly around his tights, but loosed up at his ankles, his skin was very tan. In the Academy, he was at the top of the class in class work and vastly kept himself in the middle when it came to combat.

"Uzumaki Ishide." Iruka called out.

"Here…"

"Uzumaki Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto…Ishide, where is your brother?" Iruka asked. Ishide smirked as he heard one of the Jonin shout out, "Naruto! Get your ass back here!" The boy answered, "I would have to take a guess that he is outside, practicing his stealth.

Iruka sighed, "I will be right back, class…Mizuki, can you please take over while I get Naruto?"

"Sure, Iruka-kun…"

"Thanks." The scarred chunin said as he left in a hurry and Ishide inwardly frowned at the sight of Mizuki's smile. The Chunin said, "Okay, class, let's go over the Hokages…" Ishide hated Mizuki with a passion, the man acted way too nice and his eyes seemed to have a hunger for power.

A few minutes later, Iruka dragged a tied up Naruto in the classroom and said, "Thank you, Mizuki, now class…thanks to Naruto here, you will all be reviewing the Henge no Jutsu….now form a line!" The classroom groaned and Ishide untied his brother, "Going out for a walk, you say? What amazing prank did you do this time, Nii-san?"

"Oh, nothing….just painting the faces of the Hokages."

Ishide chuckled, "Did you take a picture of it?"

"Yep, I dropped it off at Saya-oba-chan's house for it to get developed."

"Good, I want a copy."

"It would have been better if you have been there with me."

Ishide replied, "Naruto, you know that today is the day before we graduate and become Genin."

"Uzumaki Ishide." Iruka called out and Ishide winked at Naruto, he moved up to Iruka and shouted, "**Henge!**" The boy was engulfed into a large plume of smoke and then he was replaced with a naked woman, who blew a kiss at Iruka, causing the Chunin school teacher to be propelled by his nosebleed.

"Heh, patented Uzumaki Hijutsu: Oiroke no Jutsu!"

"Enough with your stupid tricks! This is your last warning for both of you…" Iruka roared and Ishide chuckled, "You need to lighten up a bit, Iruka-sensei…you know, get a girl, party, live life to the fullest…that sort of stuff."

A few hours later, Ishide and Iruka watched as Naruto cleaned the last of the Hokage's faces. "Why do I have to clean up the monuments?" Naruto whined, "Besides their faces look better this way." Iruka replied, "You have to because you messed them up and you are not leaving until they are spotless."

Naruto looked at Ishide, "Ishide, c'mon, help your older brother out…"

"Hey, it was not my fault to do the prank so early…I told you it would be better if you did it after we graduated to make it all worthwhile, but nooo...you don't listen to your younger brother."

Iruka sighed, "Hey, Naruto…if you can clean this up in a few hours, I will treat you and your brother to ramen." As soon as the word 'ramen' escaped from Iruka's lips, Naruto began to work even faster, "Don't worry, sensei, I will have this cleaned up in no time!"

At Ichiraku Ramen, the three of them were eating ramen until Naruto stopped and asked Iruka for something. "Umm, Iruka-sensei, can I ask you a favor?"

"Hmm, what? You want more ramen?"

"No, I want to try on your headband…c'mon, please." Ishide smirked as he knew the answer that was coming up as Iruka was saying it, "Oh, this? Forget it, this is for fully-fledged ninja! You will get yours tomorrow."

"Told ya!" Ishide said in a matter of fact tone.

Naruto stuck out his tongue childishly and pouted, "Stingy!"

Ishide said in a teasing tone, "Hey, Naruto, is that why you took off your goggles?" He, along with his sensei laughed at Naruto, who blushed while crying out, "Ah, I want more ramen!" On the next day, Iruka said, "We will now start the exams, when your name is called, please proceed to the designated room. The final test will be….the Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto thought in horror, _"Shit, that is my worst jutsu…great; I am never going to pass."_

Ishide inwardly scowled, _"When I find the son of a bitch who did this, he or she is dead. I have no problem with the Bunshin no Jutsu due to my chakra control…but since Naruto has more chakra that he can handle along with the Kyuubi disrupting most of his chakra, he overloads the Bunshin."_

"**Then we have to leave it to fate…all we can do is pray and hope."** A voice said to him in his mind.

"_I doubt praying to whatever god that we can think of will work, Nekoshi. On the other note, is that seal still intact?" _

The voice known as Nekoshi answered, **"Yeah, the seal that is holding your dark personality is intact."** Ishide mentally nodded, _"Good, I might be able to harness that nature again without letting it control me like last time." _Suddenly his name was called out and he proceeded in the room.

Iruka and Mizuki sat at the table, which was filled with Konoha headbands. "Please perform the jutsu, Ishide…" Iruka said in a firm tone and Ishide nodded as he summoned his chakra, "**Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Fifteen clones appeared and Iruka smiled, "Congratulations, Ishide, you passed with flying colors, please come and collect your hitai-ate."

As the younger Uzumaki came to collect his headband, he sensed a small, concentrated blast of killing intent aimed at him. He knew that Iruka was one to be trusted, so he deduced effectively that it was Mizuki. He turned his head slightly to see a smiling Mizuki and then Ishide smirked as he sent his own blast of a greater proportion, making Mizuki's smile disappear into shock.

"_So I was right, he does hate us…if he gives me an opportunity, I will fix him good."_ He thought as he came out of the room. When he saw Naruto, he was very nervous and Ishide gave him a smile, "Don't worry, Nii-san, you will pass, I know it. You just have to relax and you will get the jutsu down."

Naruto smiled, "Thanks, Aniki…" He walked past him and into the room with confidence. "Okay, Naruto, focus and relax. You can do this!" He performed the Ram seal and summoned his chakra as he shouted, "**Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Suddenly an unknown force made him lose focus and the end result was a faded clone sprawled out on the ground.

Iruka's eye twitched, Naruto began to bite his nails while Mizuki inwardly smirked, _"Now if I play my cards right, I will be able to get power and get rid of the Nine Tails brat."_ Iruka shouted, "You fail!" Mizuki thought, _"Now to play the part…"_ He turned to his colleague and said, "Iruka, he's off, but his moves weren't bad and he actually did replicate this time. This is his third try and he really wants to be a ninja as well as a possible team with his brother. We could pass him."

Naruto's expression turned from disappointed to happy until Iruka's next choice of words shattered that smile. "Mizuki, the other student created at least three clones perfectly…but Naruto created only one and look at it, it's useless…I am sorry, Naruto, but I can't pass you."

Naruto clenched his teeth, _"This is so unfair…"_ He thought to himself as he turned and walked out of the room without noticing Iruka's sad look and Mizuki's smug smile. _"I am so sorry, Naruto, but you have to understand that I am bound by the rules…I would pass you in a heartbeat if I could."_ Iruka thought.

**Outside the Academy-** Naruto sat on the swing while Ishide lay on the ground under the shade of the tree. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki looked at the proud graduated students with their parents in sadness; Ishide looked at his brother in sympathy. Although he had his headband, he knew that it would be hard enough to get along with his team if he was left alone.

He was practically a loner much like the Academy's heartthrob, Sasuke Uchiha. Even if he got along with them, he would feel that something was missing from his body if his brother was not with him. "Nii-san, I will be back, I am going to the bathroom." Ishide said as he got up.

Naruto said nothing and the younger brother left to the bathroom. When he came out, he overheard two ladies gossiping while staring at his brother. The brunette said, "Look over there…it is that…kid."

The black haired woman said, "I heard that he was the only one that didn't pass…" The brunette scoffed, "Well, serves him right."

"Just imagine what would happen if he became a ninja. I mean, he is the boy who…"

The brunette quickly shushed her, "Quiet, Ibara, we are not allowed to talk about that, we'll…" Suddenly the two women couldn't breathe for a moment and turned to see Ishide with his bangs covering his eyes.

"You two are so lucky that didn't break that law…" he whispered

Ibara swallowed and said, "We have no idea what you are talking about, child." She placed a hand on his shoulder, but Ishide caught it in a firm grip, turning her skin red from the pressure. The boy looked at her with eyes filled with hate, "Don't you ever touch me…after what you just said and don't you play dumb with me. I know about my brother's burden, considering how stupid the village can be when they call my brother a demon. The only demon that came here was Kyuubi and it is a great coincidence that on our birthday, it disappeared from the earth and he has a strange tattoo on his stomach."

Ibara and her friend, Tsubaki were sweating bullets at the boy's anger as he said his next words, "Now if I ever see you or even hear bad mouthing my brother, I will make sure that you will never see that light of day. You will never be able to walk out of your homes without everyone looking at you in shame and disgust. This is your first and last warning, now are we clear?"

The two women looked at each other and Ishide brought their attention by increasing his grip on the woman's wrist, making her gasp out. "I said are we _clear_?" Ishide repeated with hidden malice. "Y-Yes…"

"Good, now get your kids and get out of my sight before I do something that I will regret."

The women quickly got their kids and left the Academy, afraid to look back at the brother of Naruto Uzumaki. Ishide took deep breaths and then looked at Naruto's position to see that he was gone, "Where did Naruto-nii go? Maybe he went to Ichiraku Ramen to cheer himself up. Oh, well, I guess that I can go over to Saya-oba-chan's house to get the pictures."

**Naruto-** "Iruka is tough, but he is not against you at all, Naruto." Mizuki said on the rooftop. Apparently Naruto was not at Ichiraku Ramen, but with Mizuki. Naruto turned to the chunin and asked, "Then why…why only me?"

Mizuki replied, "He wants you to be strong with all his heart, but that will never happen if he goes easy on you. He is just like you…no parents, but you are lucky enough to have a twin brother."

Naruto protested, "But…this time, I really wanted to graduate….I promise Ishide that I would be at his side. He always told me that there was always something missing inside of him. He is smart and his skills at taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu are amazing, but when we are together, we are invincible as a team."

Mizuki said, chuckling softly, "Then I guess that I am going to have to tell you…it's a special secret, but I am going to let you in on it."

Naruto thought, _"A secret…"_ Mizuki leaned in and whispered something in his ear. Naruto nodded as he immediately planned and thought with determination, _"Don't worry, aniki, we will be together. With Mizuki-sensei's plan, I will be a ninja."_

Later that night, Ishide looked up at the ceiling as he thought, "_It is night time already and Naruto has not come back yet. What is taking him so long to get home? And Mizuki…something is off about that guy."_ He flipped off and muttered, "Alright, one more time, I will check by Ichiraku Ramen again, then the forest where we train at. Lord knows that he always exhaust himself and falls asleep in the forest from training."

Ishide got dressed and ran out on the rooftops towards Ichiraku Ramen. He leapt in front of the shop and saw that it was closed, "Okay, he is not here, so…huh?" A shadow leapt over him and Ishide saw that it was Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei, he seems like he is in a rush to go somewhere. I wonder if he knows where Naruto is. He always seems to have a sixth sense when we do our pranks." Ishide said to himself as he proceeded to follow Iruka.

**Iruka-** The Chunin thought to himself, _"This doesn't make any sense, why would Naruto of all people steal the Scroll of Sealing for a prank?"_ He stopped on a branch to see Naruto breathing hard and said, "I found you! It's all over!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and laughed a bit and then Iruka raised his eyebrow, "Huh?" Naruto commented, "You caught me already, nice. You are pretty quick, sensei; I only had time to learn one technique from this scroll."

Iruka quickly scanned over his state and thought, _"He has been here practicing due to the bruises and the state of his clothing." _Naruto interrupted his thoughts by saying, "Listen, Iruka-sensei, I am going to show the jutsu and then you can let me graduate. Right? Anyone who learns a jutsu from this scroll passes."

Iruka asked, "Naruto, who told you that?"

"Mizuki-sensei, he told me about the secret test, where the scroll was hidden and this…place." Naruto said, but he slowly stopped speaking due to Iruka's shocked expression. Then suddenly a barrage of kunai flew through the air, aimed at Naruto and Iruka, but the Chunin acted quickly by pushing his student away from the path and blocked most of the attacks.

He looked up to see Mizuki, perched on a tree with a sneer on his face. "So you found my little hideout, eh, Iruka?" the white-haired Chunin said to him. Iruka gritted out, "I should have known…why, Mizuki, just did you have to stoop so low?"

Mizuki ignored him and shouted to Naruto, "Naruto! Give me the scroll now!"

Naruto said, confused, "Wait a minute, what is going on here?"

"Ain't it obvious, Nii-san?" a voice said. Mizuki turned to receive a boot to the head, courtesy of Ishide as he answered, "Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself, then he was going to use you as a scapegoat to take the fall. Bad for us since it would have made my life a living hell and you would be rotting in a prison cell."

Ishide turned to Mizuki and narrowed his eyes, "I knew that something was off about you, Mizuki-teme. Now turn yourself in or die!" Mizuki laughed at him, "Hehe, me? Die? No chance in hell that is going to happen, in fact, since I am going to 'die', I will tell you a secret that nobody bothered to tell you both."

Iruka gasped in realization, "No, Mizuki…it is forbidden!"

Mizuki shouted out, "The decree twelve years ago, was set to not tell that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed in your precious brother, Ishide. That is right; they all have been sneaking around, keeping you two in the dark about your true form." Naruto was now in despair until he heard his brother laughing.

"What is so funny?" Mizuki said.

"What is funny is that I already knew about his burden since that incident, you idiot! I don't care if my brother holds the Kyuubi or if he is the actual demon…I hate the Kyuubi, but the Kyuubi is not Naruto. He is kind, hyperactive, reckless and brash and none of those qualities are part of the Kyuubi…because he is Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure, fellow ninja and my beloved brother.

Mizuki frowned at his plan didn't work and he took out one of his Fuma Shuriken to throw, but Iruka grabbed his arm and said, "That is far enough…Mizuki." Mizuki moved quickly and kicked Iruka to the ground.

The school teacher fell to the ground and Mizuki moved to stab him, but only to receive a knee to the head, courtesy of Naruto. "If you ever lay a hand on my sensei or my brother, I will kill you."

"I doubt it, I could destroy you with a single move!" the white haired Chunin boasted.

Naruto made a single hand sign, "Try it, I will give it back to you a thousand fold!"

"Let's see you try! Show me what you got, Nine Tailed Fox!"

"**Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **

A thousand clones appeared out of thin air, surrounding Mizuki. Ishide thought, _"What? Clones?"_

Iruka thought, _"Not regular clones…those are solid clones!"_ Mizuki fell back in fear and shock, and then the clones along with Naruto said, "If you are not coming, then we are coming after you." They charged at the screaming Mizuki and pummeled him into submission.

He was left bloody and broken on the ground. Ishide walked over to the fallen Chunin and took out a kunai, he raised it to stab him, but his wrist was caught by his older brother. "What? If he comes back, he will stop at nothing to kill both of us and possibly Iruka-sensei." Ishide stated coldly.

Naruto looked at Mizuki and then back at his brother, "Let him try…I will just kick his ass again, but I am giving him a chance to repent. If not, then I will kill him."

Ishide lowered his arm and looked at Mizuki in contempt, "I hope you are right, Naruto. For both of our sakes…your kindness to everyone is going to come and bite you in the ass one of these days."

"Naruto, come here, I got something for ya." Iruka said. Naruto walked towards his sensei, looking a bit confused and Iruka told him to close his eyes. The Jinchuuriki did as he instructed and then he felt something cool against his forehead.

"Okay, you can open them now…"

Naruto opened them and blinked a bit to see a beaming Ishide and a smiling Iruka with his goggles in his hand. At that moment, Naruto realized that he was wearing his sensei's headband, then Iruka said, "Congratulations…you graduate, Naruto."

"Welcome to the world of ninja, Naruto-nii-san."

Naruto smiled and then tackled both of them to the ground, crying and thanking Iruka. "Get off of me, you big oaf." Ishide said as he laughed. Iruka looked at Ishide, _"Funny, at one moment, I really thought that he was going to kill Mizuki…I know that they did you and your brother wrong, Ishide, but I hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive this village."_

Ishide smiled as he looked at the rising sun, _"In the end, everything turned out all right."_ He thought to himself. After the three delivered the Scroll of Seals and the beaten Mizuki, everything went back to normal.

Two days later, Naruto and Ishide woke up to go to the Academy for the last time. They arrived and Naruto said out loud, "I wonder where Sakura-chan is at?" Ishide said, "Why are you wondering about that brute for? She always belittles and hits you for no reason at all."

Naruto yelled at him, "Hey, don't speak about Sakura-chan that way. She is the nicest person that I ever known…"

"And I am a fucking green dinosaur, stuck inside a brown mystery box, waiting for an Italian plumber with a red shirt and blue overalls to ride me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I could ask you the same thing when you are talking about how nice she is." Ishide retorted, "Besides….her and Miss Prissy Prissy should be here in three…two…one." On cue, Sakura, along with her former best friend, Ino Yamanaka came through the door, arguing about who got in first.

Sakura turned over to Sasuke's direction and noticed that Ishide was in 'her' seat next to Sasuke. She said, "Oi, Ishide, move…I want to sit by Sasuke-kun and you are in my seat." Ishide gave her a cross look as he said, "First of all, I don't see your name on the chair. Second, if you want to sit here, you better ask nicely. Third, what makes you think that I give a shit that you want to sit next to Uchiha."

Sakura was about to retort, but Ishide got up, "Don't say a word, I will get out of the seat now, but it is only because I don't want to hear your howler monkey/banshee screech at this moment. It is too early for this shit." The class gasped at Ishide's words and Naruto sweat dropped as he thought, _"Damn it, Ishide, you are ruining my chances with Sakura-chan."_

Ishide grumbled and then sat in a nearby empty seat. He heard a small 'eep' and turned to see that it was Hinata Hyuga and he turned away as he blushed lightly. He thought back when he saved her from those bullies and thought that she was the most beautiful thing on earth, but unfortunately his crush was misplaced because she mistakenly thought it was his older brother.

Ishide looked over to see Naruto crouched in front of Sasuke's face and then noticed that one of the boys moved his arm back into Naruto, making him lean forward. The younger brother moved quickly and caught the back of Naruto's jumpsuit, inches away from kissing Sasuke, which would have been an embarrassing moment. "You both owe me one, Nii-san, Uchiha…"

Sasuke muttered a small thanks and Ishide chuckled, "Oh, shit, the Uchiha spoke, people….it is the apocalypse." Most of the girls began to glare at Ishide, but it stopped as Iruka walked in the room. "Okay, Genin, today is your first day as shinobi. Soon you will have missions and be set on three-man squads with the exception of one and follow your Jonin sensei's orders."

"_Great, I am a ninja and a step closer to him, but I got people that are going to slow me down."_ Sasuke thought.

"_I hope that I am with Sasuke-kun…please let us be together."_ Sakura thought.

"_I hope that I am with Sakura-chan and Ishide-aniki, but anybody but Sasuke-teme."_ Naruto thought.

Ishide thought, "_Kami, if you are out there, please…for all that is good and holy, please don't pair me up with the pink-haired bitch. I can deal with Sasuke, but she…is just plain torture."_

Iruka looked at his roster and said, "Let's see, Teams One through Six are in circulation, so Team Seven will be Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Ishide Uzumaki." BANG! Ishide slammed his head against the desk and Hinata asked, "Umm, Ishide-kun, a-are you a-alright?"

"No, Hinata-chan, I am not….I just got condemned by Kami by the second loudest Genin in this class. Why, Kami-sama, why?" Ishide said with anime tears in his eyes. Hinata patted his back softly as he cried while Naruto said as he pointed at Sasuke, "Why do I have to be paired with him?"

"Because Naruto, the teams were made to balance them out based on your level of skill…now let me announce the rest of the teams. Team Eight will be Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame, Team Ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi….Team Eleven…"

Ishide and Naruto tuned out the rest and then Iruka finished, "Now that you know your teammates, you will wait for your sensei after your lunch break is done." Later, they all sat and a bearded shinobi with a a cigarette came in to pick up Team Ten. _"Asuma Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage's son and former member of the Twelve Fire Guardians."_ Ishide thought.

Next, a woman with wavy hair and red eyes came to pick up Team Eight and Ishide thought, _"Kurenai Yuhi, she must have been promoted recently, though her skills in genjutsu are superb." _Hours later, Team Seven was the ones left in the room and Sasuke said, "Ishide…"

"What?"

"I just want to tell you to don't get in my way…all of you."

"That is my line…Uchiha."

Suddenly Ishide threw a kunai at the sliding door and a white haired Jonin caught it, "You are very hostile…aren't you?" Ishide said, "I am sorry, I get a bit ticked off when someone is late."

"I am Kakashi Hatake, your sensei."

The Haruno said, "You don't look like much to me."

"Looks can be deceiving, Haruno. Isn't that right, son of the Shiroi Kiba?" Ishide said.

Kakashi looked at him curiously and then the Jonin said, "Anyway, meet me on the roof." The sensei left the room and Team Seven sat in front of the man.

"Okay, well, let's begin by introducing ourselves." Kakashi said to his team.

"What do you want to know, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams…stuff like that." He answered.

Sakura shot out, "Can you start us off?"

"Sure, like I said, I am Kakashi Hatake, I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes, I have lots of hobbies…my dreams, hmm, I got nothing."

The Genin sweat dropped, "All that he told us was his name."

"Okay, pinky. You are up first." Kakashi said. Sakura said, "My name is Sakura Haruno, my likes are…" She glances at Sasuke as she continued, "My hobbies are…" Another glance at Sasuke and she continued, "Dreams." Glance and squeal. Kakashi said, "And your dislikes…"

"Ishide and Ino-pig." She answered.

"The feeling is mutual, you pink-haired transvestite." Ishide replied hotly.

"What did you call me?" Sakura shouted.

"What? You don't know what transvestite means…to tell you the truth, you should find your name next to it as the definition, seeing that you have no assets."

Naruto knocked Ishide on his head and he rubbed his head, "Nii-san, what was that for?"

"For insulting Sakura-chan…."

"What? Are you blind? She is flat like a plank." Ishide protested.

"Enough, you two…alright, you are next…"

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, my likes are ramen, training, being with Iruka-sensei and Ishide-aniki and Sakura-chan, my dislikes are people who think highly of themselves, people who don't care about their friends and people who judge others by the cover of the book. My hobbies are pranks, I guess and my dream is to become Hokage, so everyone will respect me and treated like I am somebody."

The Jonin smiled to himself, _"He is just like his mother and father…"_ Then he pointed at Ishide, "Ishide Uzumaki, I like training, sunsets, wolves, the moon, my brother and a certain girl, my dislikes are…the same as my brother's and wanna-be kunoichis that focus on love rather than honing their skills. My hobbies are sleeping, listening and playing music and training. My dream is to become Hokage, win the heart of said certain girl and uncover my family's past."

"_Interesting…."_ Kakashi thought as he pointed at Sasuke. The Uchiha said, "Sasuke Uchiha, I have few likes and many dislikes. My hobbies are training and my dream…I can't exactly call it that; it is more of an ambition. My ambition is to kill the man responsible for the death of my clan…"

"Good luck with that, Uchiha…Itachi-san is on higher level than you, it will take years for you to get there." Ishide said.

Sasuke turned to glare at him and Kakashi said, "Okay, now that we know each other a bit, I have to tell you that you have not exactly passed as Genin just yet."

"What?" Naruto and Sakura said in surprise.

"Good, I was about to say that test was way too easy…"Ishide commented.

"Unfortunately this test has a 66.6% rate of failure, so tomorrow, I want you to meet me at Training Area Three at 9:00 and don't eat breakfast or you will throw up." Kakashi said as he disappeared. Sasuke instantly rounded on Ishide, "How do you know about Itachi?"

"I knew him because he is one of the ninja that I admired and respect to this very day. He was also my guardian for a few days as well." Ishide answered truthfully and then added mentally, _"And he was my taijutsu teacher after that incident, the only one that my dark side feared." _

The next day, Team Seven appeared at the designated training area and waited. Ishide got bored and began to make scenarios of what was going to happen. _"Okay, let's see…I know that I don't have the skill to beat him and I sure don't want to reveal my status as a Jinchuuriki to Konoha just yet. Kakashi specializes in primarily ninjutsu, but his taijutsu is also something to watch out for. He barely uses genjutsu in a battle…which means that I need help. I know that I can get my brother's help automatically, but Uchiha and Haruno are the most difficult ones to deal with. Once Uchiha is delayed, I will present my offer…Howler Monkey, I have no idea what to do with her, but she will have to be included in the plan as well."_

After two hours, Sakura shouted, "It has been two hours and this guy is still not here! What kind of joke is this?" Naruto agreed vocally and then Kakashi came up, "Sorry, I am late, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take a detour."

"LIAR!" both Naruto and Sakura shouted while Sasuke sweat dropped, "This guy….that was absolutely the worst lie that I have ever heard of." Kakashi took out a clock from his pack and set it for noon, "Okay the clock is set for noon…your test is this." He pulled out three bells from his pouch and said, "You will have to get these bells from before time is up….if you don't get a bell, then I will tie you to one of those posts and eat a bento in front of you."

Crunch! Everyone turned to see Ishide munching on an apple. "What? I got hungry? Waiting for two hours don't help the fact either." He said after he swallowed some. "Ishide, I told you not to eat…"Naruto said sternly.

"Hey, like Saya-obachan says, an apple a day keeps the doctor away…I would like to follow that rule to the tee…" Ishide said with a small smile, then he grew serious, "But come on, you three didn't realize that he was trying to weaken us. If we were on an actual mission, we would be dead listening to him, sometimes when it comes to team survival, insubordination pays off. You, Naruto, I thought you should realized that after when you skipped breakfast last time and you had Ami beat you in a practice spar."

Naruto blushed as he remembered that incident. Sakura spoke up, "But we are only Genin, Kakashi-sensei has more experience than all of us combined."

"And that prompts us to listen to him? Geez, for being the smartest girl in class, you have absolutely no common sense at all."

Sakura was about to shoot a nasty reply until Kakashi said, "He is right, Sakura…at least one of you has looked underneath the underneath." Sakura glared at Ishide, who in turn gave her the finger, but then she realized something, "Wait, sensei, you are missing a bell."

Ishide said sarcastically, "Congratulations, you can count…" Naruto punched the top of his head and said, "Be quiet, Ishide…" Kakashi said, "Correct, Sakura, it means that one of you will not be on this team if you don't get a bell….you will be sent back to the Academy for another year of training. You can use any ninjutsu, genjutsu or taijutsu against me and you must come at me with the intent to kill."

"But won't you get hurt?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"I will be fine, Sakura…."

Naruto said, "Yeah, Sakura is right…you look pretty weak to me."

"You know, the weak ones are always the ones who boast about their power….am I right, dead last?" Kakashi said nonchalantly. The Jinchuuriki's eyes flashed in anger and he took out his kunai to stab Kakashi. Suddenly Naruto found himself facing Sasuke and Sakura with his arm, armed with his kunai aimed at the back of his head.

"Maa, maa….I didn't tell you to start yet now." Kakashi said calmly. Ishide said, "True, but if it were an enemy, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you." Kakashi looked to see Ishide behind him, aiming his own kunai at his kidney and Naruto grinned, "You see, I told you that pranking came in handy, but I didn't see you move at all."

Ishide smirked, "That is because I released my weights…"

"Weights?"

"C'mon, Nii-san, think…during running away from the Chunin and Jonin, I had weights on when we were on the getaway. It took a while to get used to them, but then I got faster. The only reason that you and Kakashi didn't notice me at all was because of that fact that you were focused on each other."

"Cool, but why didn't you tell me about the weights?"

"I did…but you were too focused with Sakura and ramen, mostly ramen. After the test, we will stop by the shinobi shop and get you some weights."

Kakashi released Naruto and Ishide put the kunai back in his holster. The Jonin thought, _"Alone, even I would think that I could beat them, but when they are together, they could make a formidable team. Naruto uses brute force while Ishide uses logic and reasoning. I better keep an eye on them when they are together."_

"Alright then, without further ado…ready…GO!" Kakashi said.

The Genin instantly played hide and seek, then the Hatake took out his book and thought, _"Hmm, Sasuke and Sakura have hidden themselves pretty well, so have Naruto and Ishide…Ishide must be planning something since he dragged Naruto into the forest with him." _

Deep in the forest, Naruto whispered angrily, "Why did you drag me back here? I was going to kick sensei's ass…" Ishide replied, "And you would have failed miserably, what he did back there before was no fluke… he could have killed you before you even moved. Plus I figured out the test…we are not supposed to get the bells."

"What? Then why would he say we have to?"

"The test is teamwork, we both know that neither of us could possibly defeat him, we could give him a hard time… we wouldn't get the bells."

"I thought you said that we didn't have to get the bells."

"It is an optional way to pass, but he would prefer that we work together…all of us."

"So we have to ask for Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme's help?"

"Correct, but we have to ask for Sasuke to join us…he is essential, so we can get your little howler monkey."

Naruto said, "But I could…"

"Naruto, she doesn't like you and finds you annoying while I utterly just dislike her with a passion for how she treats you. She has a blatant admiration and crush for Sasuke, but Sasuke doesn't like her either and prefers to be a loner…so the plan is to wait until Kakashi deals with Sasuke and then hopefully goes after Sakura."

"But how are we going to meet them both and relay to each other?"

"What is the sign for the Kage Bunshin, Naruto?"

Naruto showed him the sign and Ishide said, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**…" Three clones appeared and Naruto was a bit impressed that Ishide got it on his first try. "Okay, two of them will be watching both Sakura and Sasuke at a safe distance. After he deals with them, we will be coming after us…so we will have to keep moving or make decoys."

Naruto said, "No problem! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Six squads appeared and then half of them transformed into Ishide. Naruto said, "Alright, now scatter…" The younger Uzumaki said, "Good, now all we have to do is wait…"

**Sasuke-** The Uchiha attack a seemingly unsuspecting Kakashi with a mix of kunai and shuriken, which all of them hit their designated target only for the Jonin to reveal that he used the Kawarimi no Jutsu. Sasuke thought as he ran, _"Damn it, he knows where I am now! I have to move!"_

He jumped through the trees until he came into a clearing. Using his honed senses, he found out fairly quickly that he was not alone. "I am not like any of those losers…" he stated calmly. Kakashi was leaning against the tree with his book in his hand, "Say that after you get a bell, Sasuke."

The Uchiha sent a kunai at his teacher, who dodged it by springing to another tree, but Kakashi looked to see that Sasuke has a wide smirk plastered on his face. _"Damn, a trap!"_ The Jonin cursed in his head as knives were launched at the tree he was previously at.

Kakashi skidded on the ground to get his bearings and looked up to see that Sasuke charge and came in with a flying kick. The Jonin quickly tucked his book away and caught Sasuke's leg. Next, Sasuke threw a punch with his right arm, but Kakashi was able to catch that too, occupying all of his free hands.

Sasuke tried to use this advantage by twisting to use his free leg to aim at Kakashi's head. The white-haired Jonin used his forearm to block it only to realize that Sasuke was planning to use his free arm to get the bells.

Quickly, Kakashi tossed Sasuke away from his persona just as the Uchiha touched the bells. Then Sasuke began to do hand signs that Kakashi recognized instantly, _"What? That is impossible; a mere Genin shouldn't have that much chakra to perform that jutsu!" _

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"** Sasuke shouted and then he blew a fireball at his teacher. The Jutsu engulfed the man and when it finally dissipated, Sasuke frowned in disappointment as he saw that there was no body or the smell of burnt flesh.

"Where is he? Left...Right…Above…Behind…then he must be…"

"That's right, I am below you…**Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!**" Kakashi said as his hand burst out of the earth to latch on to Sasuke's ankle tightly. Suddenly the Uchiha was yanked down to the earth and Kakashi burst out of the ground before Sasuke's head. "Better luck next time, Sasuke…now let me see if I can find your teammates to play with." Kakashi said before he rushed off into the woods in search for one of his students. _"Damn it! I can't move at all!"_ Sasuke thought angrily, but then Ishide appeared in front of him and said, "Well, hello, Uchiha, judging from your predicament…I take it that you didn't get a bell. Do you need some help?"

Sasuke snorted and turned his neck to the side, the Uzumaki raised his hands in defense as he said, "Fine, but I am afraid that I am going to need your help as well as Banshee's to get the bells from Kakashi. Personally, I don't care who gets them, alright? If you agree, then nod twice…"

Sasuke turned to look at Ishide and smirked, "So you need my help?"

"Don't get it twisted…the only reason that I am asking is because one, I need you for this test as well as your fan girl and two, I am not the one stuck neck deep in the earth…you need me and I need you, no matter how much you want to deny it, Sasuke."

"Fine, then I will join….but if this plan doesn't work, then I am flying solo."

"Fair enough!" Ishide said as he worked on freeing Sasuke while telling him the true test.

**Sakura- **The Haruno ran through the forest with two things in mind. The number one priority was to find Sasuke and you have a sure guarantee to be safe from Kakashi. Being with Naruto or Ishide meant trouble, especially Ishide and number two was avoid Kakashi-sensei until Sasuke takes him out.

"_Where is Sasuke-kun? Could Kakashi-sensei have…no, he couldn't have! Sasuke-kun is more…"_ She thought until she stopped abruptly and let out a small gasp. A few meters away, Kakashi was standing, reading his ever-present book.

"_Whew, he almost saw me…"_she thought as she let out a breath of relief until… "Sakura, behind you." A voice said. Sakura turned to see Kakashi make the Ram seal and said, **"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!"** Sakura was plunged into a world of hidden meaning as the leaves scattered around her in the wind across her vision for a few minutes.

"Huh? What happened? Where is sensei? Something is definitely wrong here." She said, confused. "S-Sakura…." A voice said. Sakura instantly recognized it and turned around quickly, "Sasuke-kun…" The Haruno turned to see that her crush was severely infused with kunai and shuriken embedded in his body and one of his legs was twisted all the way around.

"H-Help me… S-Sakura." Sasuke gasped out in pain. The pink-haired girl did one thing…well, two things actually. The first thing that she did was scream for dear life and the next thing she did was faint. _"Maybe I was a bit too hard on her."_ Kakashi thought to himself, _"Oh, well, after I finish this chapter…I will find Naruto and Ishide next."_

With Kakashi so engrossed in his book, Ishide appeared and dragged Sakura away as he thought to himself, _"You fell to an E-Rank genjutsu…you need a lot of work, Sakura…physically and mentally."_

Soon the gang was gathered together and Ishide's clone brought in an unconscious Sakura. "Sakura-chan…" Naruto shouted, "What did sensei do to her?" Ishide said, "Nothing, but used a simple genjutsu…she probably saw something that happened to Sasuke and faints."

Ishide gently slapped Sakura's cheek and her eyes fluttered open. She got up and looked to see Sasuke and opened her mouth, "What? Sasuke-kun? You're alrig…"Ishide clapped a hand over her mouth and hissed, "Quiet, do you want to let Kakashi find us so quickly?"

Sasuke asked, "What is this place anyway?"

"My hideout…I have certain particular places to hide when I don't want to be found or when I want to think. This is one of them, luckily it was an old base of some sorts and I think it has a chakra barrier that suppresses your chakra signature. Now to fill Sakura in…we need to work together to get the bells."

"But Sasuke-kun…"

"Is one man and plus I had to dig him out out the ground after he attempted to get the bells himself. You got hit by an E-Rank genjutsu and fainted, based on skills, you are mostly the liability." Ishide interrupted in a stern voice.

"Ishide…stop talking bad about Sakura-chan."

Ishide ignored his brother and said, "Now here is the plan…Naruto, Sasuke, you are the heavy hitters. I need you two to work together by using your Fire jutsu and clones to maneuver him over to the posts, where Sakura will be providing support with the traps that I had my clones set up around the perimeter. Since I am faster than you three, I will steal the bells."

Sasuke said in a suspicious tone, "Hold on, why do you do it? You are obviously going to give your brother the other bell, but who gets the other one?"

"I will worry about that after we get them. Besides you would do the same thing, Sasuke…" Ishide smirked.

The Uchiha smirked as well, "True, I never seen this plotting side of you, Ishide."

"Trust me, there are a lot of sides that nobody knows, Sasuke…now let's go!"

**Kakashi-** _"Hmm, where are they?"_ Kakashi thought, "_I can't sense their chakra...wait!"_ Suddenly he heard Naruto's shout of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and dozens of clones came out to assault their sensei. _"He can make this many clones?"_ the Jonin thought in shock.

"I have been waiting to kick your ass all day, sensei! You hurt Sakura-chan and now you are going to pay in full with insurance, pal!" Naruto declared, "Charge!" The clones moved towards their Jonin sensei, attacking in en masse.

Next, Sasuke appeared from the trees and shouted, "**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!**" He spat out fireballs that pelted the area where Kakashi was at, making the Jonin move towards the lake. Then the Hatake heard a whistling sound and took out a kunai to block the kunai. It fell to the ground point first and then Kakashi heard hissing, he looked down to see that the kunai had a paper bomb attached to the end. "Oh shi…" Kakashi said.

BOOM! The shockwave sent the white haired scarecrow over the lake's surface and then into the water. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood at the edge of the lake and Sakura asked, "Did we get him? Is he okay?"

Kakashi burst out of the water and the three genin fell back on the backs in fear as the Jonin said, "Oh, I am fine…but the question is…will you be?" Suddenly they heard the bells jingle and Kakashi's lone eye widened, "What?"

He turned to see a grinning Ishide in wet clothes and with the bells in his hand, "So sensei, do we pass?"

"Yes, you have the bells…so who gets one?"

"That is easy…none of us do since getting the bells was not the real objective." Ishide said, "It was teamwork that was the real objective."

Kakashi said, "How did you find out?"

"It took me a while, but it was obvious…even with all of our strength, we couldn't defeat you alone. The only way to stand a chance was if all of us worked together. Even the strongest Kage can be taken down by a squad of Genin through teamwork."

Kakashi gave him an eye smile, "Congratulations….all of you have passed the test. Without teamwork, we would all be dead. I was not sure if that you guys were ready since you were being my little puppets by following my rules, but now I am certain that you have what it takes to be ninjas. Remember this, those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

All four of them nodded and Naruto said, "Well, now…let's eat because I am starved." The three Genin walked to the posts while Kakashi and Ishide walked together in the back. "You let us win with that, Kakashi-sensei." Ishide said.

"I know, but I am surprised that you know the location of that shack."

"So you noticed…"

"Who are you, Ishide?"

"A Shinobi, nothing more, nothing less. Kakashi Hatake, son of the Shiroi Kiba and former ANBU Commander Codename: Inu. You are also the sole surviving student of the Yondaime Hokage as well and you have a Sharingan in your left eye."

"How did you…"

"Your ANBU rank was because of your hair and in the Academy, Iruka-sensei taught us about some of the legendary ninja in this village, including your father. As to the other information, I found out about the Sharingan from the Bingo Book and I asked around for information about you."

"You are smarter than you let on."

"Naturally, information is a powerful tool; I have to know who and what I am dealing with."

"How did you find out about the barrier?"

"Can't tell you that, Sensei…and trust me, you can send a Yamanaka in my head, but I have mental defenses and he or she will come out as a vegetable and torture…well, you should know that it is not going to work after all I have been through."

Kakashi looked at Ishide, "You are not very trusting of others, aren't you"

"Well, mobs that try to kidnap you to get to your brother tend to do that to you, you know?" Ishide said, glancing at Kakashi from the corner of his eye. Kakashi said in a serious tone, "Just so you know, Ishide, I will be watching you…if you do anything to endanger the safety of this village, I…"

"Please, if you are worrying about my loyalty, then let me assure you that my loyalty is only to the Hokage, not the village itself. Once he is dead, then I will have no obligation to care about this village. I don't like nor trust this village at all, not even the Hokage himself."

"Not even Naruto?" Kakashi questioned.

Ishide said nothing for a moment and then he whispered, "No…I trust him, in fact, he is the only one that I can trust with my life. After all, he is the only one that knows what I have been through better than anyone else."

"Ishide! Sensei! Can I have your bentos?" Naruto asked.

"Like hell you will!" Ishide shouted as he ran towards the posts, leaving Kakashi behind as he merely walked, "_Minato-sensei, your sons are turning out fine, but I am afraid that hatred has settled in Ishide's heart…please give me the strength to guide him on the right path."_

Later that night, in the prison, Mizuki was lying on his cot and muttered, "I will get out and when I do, those three will pay for what they have done to me." Suddenly wind blew through the window and Mizuki looked at it briefly and turned back to see a man dressed in black and had a wraith-like appearance with a black ANBU mask. The mask had a curved, blackened lip grin and in the eye slots were cold, grey eyes.

"Who…who are you?" Mizuki demanded, "How the hell you got here?"

The man said nothing, but raised his hand and pointed at him with his claw gauntlet, "Mizuki, you will pay for your crimes against the Uzumaki clan….you will suffer greatly." Mizuki narrowed his eye, "Oh, masked avenger, I know that it is you, Ishide…but this is perfect, I can kill you right here and now!"

Mizuki leapt at the man, who dodged to the left, but his mask fell and the former Chunin turned to see that his face was grotesque and burned beyond recognition. "W-What?" Mizuki gasped out in fear, the man picked up his mask and put it back on, and then he reached one of his khopesh **(Curved Egyptian sword)** and walked slowly toward him.

"W-Who are you?"

"I have no name…but you can call me Kurorei…"

He raised his sword and struck down at Mizuki. The next morning, his battered, bloody body was held up in display in the prison for all to see, his intestines were used as a noose to hang him from the ceiling and the worst thing about it was that nothing had heard or felt anyone come in. Nobody knew what he look like, but all they learned what his name…etched on the wall using Mizuki's blood and the sign of two khopeshs as the coat of arms.


	2. Mission to Wave

**Chapter 2-Mission to Wave**

"How far away is the target?" Kakashi asked.

"Five meters and closing! How much longer are we going to wait?" Naruto asked frantically. Sasuke replied, "I'm in position…" Sakura came in a few seconds, "So am I…"

"Ishide…"

"I am here…"

"All right….GO!" Kakashi shouted. The team charged out to capture the target, but the mysterious creature moved over to an opening, which Ishide covered and reached in his pouch to take out…a can of tuna.

The creature stopped and ate the can of tuna that Ishide sent on the ground while Naruto shouted, "Where the hell did you get that?" Ishide said, "C'mon, Nii-san, we are ninja, we are supposed to be unpredictable and such. Also asking where I got the can of tuna is like asking where in the world is Carmen Santiago…"

"I have no clue what you are talking about…"

"If you are wondering how, I went to the store, since according to the other teams, Tora is fast as hell. I rather chase not throughout the entire village like last time." Ishide said as he petted Tora.

Tora mewed mournfully up at Ishide and he gave it a soft smile, "It is going to be okay, Tora. If it were up to me, I would take you home…but your mistress would be lonely and sad. After all, she is the Fire Lord's wife."

He walked away toward the Hokage mission building. "Why is he like that? He is always so cold and distinct towards us except Naruto and animals." Sakura asked as she watched the younger Uzumaki walk away.

Naruto replied in a sage-like tone, "He used to smile a lot once until something tragic happened to him."

"What did happened, Naruto? It could have been that bad…"

"Picture something close to what happened to you on that day…that is a question you have to ask him yourselves, all I can say is that after all of that pain and torture locked within his heart, he snapped and struck someone close to him. He made a vow to never lose himself again, to never lose his emotions…that is why he hardly shows any emotions around others except anger, resent and indifference." Naruto said sadly.

Then the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki looked at Sasuke, "It is why, Sasuke….my younger brother asked your brother for his help in training him…" With that, Naruto left with Sasuke and Sakura trailing behind him, thinking about Ishide's problem.

**Mission Building-** Team Seven walked inside to meet the Sandaime Hokage, Iruka, some insignificant money collectors and Lady Shijimi. As the Fire Lord's wife came closer, Tora began to squirm and Ishide addressed her formally, "Excuse me, Lady Shijimi, may I speak?"

"Oh, anything for the young man who found my sweet little Tora-chan…"

"I would like to address the problem to Tora's running away from you."

"Oh?"

"With all due respect, your care of Tora is a little much….in other ways, Tora feels a bit too pampered and you are smothering her…literally."

"Are you insulting me?" she said as her eyes narrowed. The room became quiet as Ishide looked at her straight in the eye, his team and the people in the room became alarmed at the conservation. "If you feel that I am, then I will accept any punishment that you give to me without hesitation, Lady Shijimi…therefore I propose a test, if you shower Tora with a bit of less affection and softer hugs, I can assure you that she will not run away."

There was deathly silence and then Shijimi spoke up, "What is your name?"

"Uzumaki Ishide, Shijimi-sama…."

"Uzumaki Ishide, hmm? Fine, I will consider your suggestion. If you're right, I will owe you a favor…if not, your ninja status will be revoked and you will never be able to become a ninja again."

"Fair enough, honorable Lady…"

After she paid off the fee and left, Naruto yelled at his younger brother, "What are you doing? You know that cat is going to run away and you won't be a ninja anymore! What the hell is your problem, is all that work that you did in the Academy was for nothing?"

Sarutobi said, "I have to admit…you are being a bit rather reckless, Ishide."

"Old man, you know that I never act unless I am sure of something. Now what are the next possible missions?"

"You can either babysit for the elders, help dig up some sweet potatoes or run errands to the neighboring village."

Naruto replied in a huff, "What about no way, no thanks and no how. Give us something different other than these chores, old man!"

"_Just when I thought he was mature for once."_ Sakura thought to herself.

"_He got a point."_ Sasuke thought.

"_Just shut up and be grateful for what you get, Naruto."_ The Hatake thought.

Iruka slammed his hands on the desk as he shouted, "Don't be a fool, Naruto! Everyone starts out doing the grunt work, it is where you can get experience, so you can work your way up to the bigger things."

"You know, you could have just assigned the D-Rank missions to Academy students in their final year or something. I mean, no offense, Iruka-sensei, but the classes needs some excitement since your lectures are so boring. Also it gives them time to adjust to the ninja life and reduces the mortality rate."

Sarutobi thought about it for a moment and said, "That is a good idea, Ishide. How long you pondered this?"

"For a few weeks now, me and Naruto have been discussing how pointless they are, which may be the cause for most genin to be careless on C-Rank or B-Rank missions."

The old man said, "This is a most excellent idea…I will bring this matter up to the council and since you two need a little excitement, I will give you a C-Rank mission."

Naruto perked up and asked excitedly, "Who is it? The Daimyo? A princess? A great lord?" Sarutobi smiled at him, "Compose yourselves, I will introduce you to him…please invite him in." The door opened to reveal a man in his late fifties, who was slightly drunk.

"What the hell? They look like a bunch of snot-nosed brats especially the pink-haired one and the midget." He said. Instantly Naruto and Sakura moved toward him, but they were held back by Kakashi. "Naruto, what did we discuss yesterday about your temper?" Ishide said sternly.

"Not to get riled up at the first comment…" The Kyuubi jailor muttered.

"Ishide replied, "Good…" He turned to Tazuna, "Sir, though we may look like kids, we are shinobi and highly capable of escorting you to your destination. Almost all of us here have seen things that would make you go insane."

Tazuna flinched at the seriousness in Ishide's voice and eyes, "W-Well, I'm Tazuna, a renowned bridge builder. I will be expecting that your ninja skills will protect me even if it costs your lives." Kakashi turned to his team, "Meet me and Tazuna at the gate at 0300 hours, dismissed."

**Naruto and Ishide-**The twins each packed three sets of clothes and two sets of pajamas as well as extra packs of kunai, shuriken, wire, exploding tags, smoke bombs and blank scrolls. "That guy gets me so mad…the nerve to call me midget and a goof."

"Well, Nii-san, you do act like a kid most of the time."

"Yeah and you act too serious…"

"With a life like ours, someone has to be serious….otherwise someone would get hurt."

Naruto turned to him and said, "It was only one time…" Ishide replied hotly, "That one time could lead to another time and another and another."

"But you had the Hokage to seal away, right?"

Ishide looked back at Naruto in shock and asked in surprise, "H-How did you…" Naruto smirked sadly, "Sometimes acting like a kid makes people careless about their secrets or underestimate their power completely."

"You are definitely my brother…"

"Hey, now I feel insulted…"

"You always get insulted by someone, this is no different….now let's go, it is almost time to go on our mission."

The boys finished packing up their things and left their apartment…after Ishide secretly activated the anti-theft seals just in case.

**Sasuke-** After packing his gear, the Uchiha left his lonely room only to stop and look at the stains on the floor in the living room. Instantly a mirage of his parents dead before his seven-year-old self and a tall, mysterious assailant with a bloody katana matching his blood-red pools of Sharingan…the assailant known as Itachi Uchiha.

Sasuke closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he remembered the helplessness he felt on that day…that day his entire clan was murdered. _"Tou-san, Oka-san…I will avenge your deaths and our clan. Just wait a bit longer until I am strong enough to kill him."_ He thought.

He opened his eyes and turned to walk out the door, never looking back once.

**Sakura- **The pink-haired 'kunoichi' packed up her bags as she pondered on Ishide's words.

'_Almost all of us have seen things worse than you can possibly imagine.'_

Sakura stopped for a moment, "I know I have been sheltered all my life, Kakashi and Sasuke-kun have seen death happen as well, but what have Ishide and Naruto experienced? Other than them being orphans, there is nothing that I can't think of. Maybe I should ask them about it…maybe I should…"

"Sakura, it's time for you to go!"

"Alright, Mom!"

**Kakashi-** The Jonin looked at the memorial at Training Area 3, _"Don't worry, I will protect them…all of them, Obito, Rin, sensei." _

**Front Gate-0300 hrs. - **Team Seven, along with Kakashi, who was actually early to the team's surprise with Tazuna. "All right, ROAD TRIP!" Naruto yelled out, making Sakura place her hands on her hips to ask, "What are you babbling about?"

"This will be my first time in my life outside of the village, so I am pretty excited." The Jinchuuriki answered truthfully.

Tazuna looked at Kakashi and pointed at Naruto, "Am I really expected to place my life in the hands of this fool?" Kakashi sighed, "There is no call for concern, Tazuna-san. I am a Jonin and I will be coming along as well."

"If you want, you could ask for better ninja at a higher price." Ishide suggested. Tazuna blanched and said, "Never mind, let's go…" Kakashi and Ishide caught on to Tazuna's reaction and immediately became a bit suspicious that something was amiss.

Naruto moved beside Ishide and said, "If we do happen to encounter bandits or other adversaries, alert me in Morse Code since you are better at sensing people." Ishide smirked as he whispered, "And people say you weren't smart."

"I prefer street smarts than scroll smarts."

"Ah, but scroll smarts can tell you how to impress a girl."

"And street smarts can tell you what to do with said girl."

"Touché."

Sakura's voice broke them from their conversation, "Oi, move it or we will leave you two!" Naruto sped off as he said, "Coming, Sakura-chan!" Ishide muttered as he walked faster, "Unfortunately street smarts can't tell what is between the beauty and the beast."

A few minutes later, Sakura decided to break the silence by asking Tazuna a question, "So…umm, Tazuna-san?"

"What now?"

"You are from Wave Country, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

She then turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi-sensei, are there any ninja in that country too?"

Ishide shook his head at the stupidity of the question while the Hatake replied, "No, not in Wave Country. But as a general rule, even all the differences that exist in local customs and cultures, most other lands have their own hidden village where a ninja clan resides. The ninja village serves as a military force, therefore protecting their own and relations with neighboring countries. Unlike the Land of Waves, a small island, a ninja village is unnecessary. The most powerful are Konoha, Kiri, Iwa, Kumo and Suna….dubbed as the Five Great Countries and the only one where the leader calls himself or herself a kage."

Sakura said, "Really? Lord Hokage is so amazing…"

"Yeah, he is…the old man still got it." Ishide said absentmindedly.

Kakashi said to Sakura, "Don't worry; you wouldn't be facing enemy ninja, probably just bandits." Tazuna's face suddenly became crestfallen and Ishide caught on to it, knowing something was up. The group passed by a puddle, which Kakashi looked at briefly and Ishide's eyes widened a bit.

He moved by Naruto and tapped his brother in Morse Code, "Puddle…two guys." Naruto said with a smirk, "Alright then, it's show time." Shortly after they passed it, the duo rose up from the puddle and the brother hidden in the cloak of his elder launched himself at Kakashi…only to meet a kick from Naruto's foot.

The elder shouted, "What? Oof!" Ishide gave the elder a devastating uppercut and the force launched him upwards and back to land on the ground with his brother. Naruto landed beside Ishide and asked, "So who are these guys?"

"They are the Demon Brothers, Meizu and Gozu, renowned assassins from the Hidden Mist. They are also known for using poison on their weapons as well…it's funny, their name is ironic."

"You got that right, let's go!"

"Hai!"

The two brothers moved in a zig-zag pattern while the ex-Mist ninjas were recovering. "How did a couple of brats knew that we were hiding?" Gozu asked out loudly. Naruto gave him a punch as he said, "Fact number one, my brother made a jutsu that acts as a chakra radar. When he found you two, he alerted me to your presence."

Ishide took Meizu and threw him into Gozu, "Fact number two: you idiots chose to Henge into a puddle when it hasn't rained for days." He looked at Naruto, who nodded briefly and the twins charged. Meizu and Gozu were at their mercy as the twins used their coordinated attacks to bring them down.

With a kick, Naruto launched Gozu at Ishide, who pulled out a kunai after he decked Meizu in the face. Gozu was hit in the back, impaled on Ishide's kunai and then the boy severed his spine with it. "Gozu! You little shits!" Meizu cried out in rage.

He launched himself at Naruto and Ishide, who backed up a bit from his furious swipes and then Ishide shouted, "Go low!" Naruto instantly ducked as Ishide's foot swung over his head and caught Meizu's head.

Then the two brothers stood there, looking at the Kiri ninja's bloodshot eyes. Meizu let out a blood-curling scream and charged at the Uzumakis. "You're up, Sasuke!" Naruto called out. The two moved to opposite sides just as Sasuke finished his hand signs, "**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!**"

The small fireballs all hit their target since there was no way to avoid at close range. Meizu screamed in pain as the claw on his hand burned the most since the poison was flammable. Ishide flipped through hand signs, "**Doton: Doro Kangoku no Jutsu!**"

Tendrils of mud rose up and trapped Meizu tightly except leaving his head. "Don't even bother escaping…the prison is chakra reinforced as long as I am holding this seal. Now who is your target?" Meizu glared at him and Ishide noticed that his eyes flickered at Tazuna.

"Thanks, you just gave me the answer." The Uzumaki said with a smile, then Sasuke swung the back of his hand to Meizu's head, rendering the man unconscious. "Nice job on reacting, Naruto, Ishide, Sasuke…also thanks for sparing him." Kakashi commented.

"That was incredible, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered. Naruto slumped his shoulders, musing, "Why is it always him?" The younger Uzumaki answered, "Because he is dark and mysterious…girls like that tend to go for the 'bad boy' type, leaving the gentlemen to wait….plus it is one of the 101 anime laws."

"Tazuna, why did you lie about the mission? You said that you wanted protecting from thieves and brigands, not ninja. If so, then this mission has just been escalated into a possible A-Rank mission. You may have had your reasons, but it is never a good idea to conceal information like that." Kakashi asked seriously.

Tazuna said nothing as shame was written all over his face. "It doesn't matter now, let's go." Naruto said. Sakura turned to him in surprise, "But…this mission is way too much for us to handle. If ninja are after Tazuna-san, then a ninja stronger than those two will come for him."

"She does have a point, so do we go back?" questioned the Hatake.

"We don't…for one, I prefer finishing that quitting in the middle. Plus we haven't heard Tazuna's reason for lying to us." Ishide stated.

Tazuna replied, "His name is Gato…."

"You mean, Gato of Gato Shipping and Transport?"

"That is the one under the surface; he is actually a criminal that smuggles drugs, prostitutes and contraband. He also uses gangs and shinobi to silence any protestors. Right now, he has taken over our transportation and the only thing that can stop him is the completion of the bridge."

Sakura said, "So because of the bridge, Gato has ordered a hit on you."

The man nodded and Ishide replied, "Then…there is no question about it. I am going to Wave Country…"

"Whoa, wait a…" Sakura started to say, but he interrupted her, "If you are afraid to continue, then I can make a clone to escort you back to Konoha. I, for one, can't stand women being used as sex slaves and Tazuna is doing a good cause."

Kakashi said, "But Sakura does bring up a good point."

"I know that it is dangerous for us to continue…but that never seem to stop you from taking the Chunin Exams at the age of six."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Kakashi in awe and disbelief while the Hatake said, "Look, my record has nothing to do with your well-being."

"When we became ninja, the aspects of our well-being were taken prisoner and chained by the law of the Hokage. If we die on a mission, then we die…we live, then we live. That is a life of a shinobi, if I am going to die, then I would rather die fighting for a just cause than run away and be shamed as a coward." Ishide said hotly.

Kakashi thought, _"Damn it….he just had to inherit his mother's stubbornness and his father's compassion…heh, he turned out just fine, but if only that incident didn't happen." _The Hatake said, "Naruto, Sasuke…what do you think?"

"I think that we should continue…if there are guys stronger than those two, then it would be a great challenger to test my skills as a ninja." Sasuke said to Kakashi. Naruto looked between Ishide and Sakura, "My choice is…to continue the mission. I don't like the thought with people suffering on my conscience. Gomen nasai, Sakura-chan…"

Kakashi said, "Then it is settled."

"Wow and I thought that I was going to have to blackmail you guys." Tazuna said. Team Seven sweat dropped at the comment. Meanwhile in the Land of Waves, in a mysterious tree house…a short, pudgy man was ripping his employee a new one over the loss of his two assassins.

"Failed, what the hell you mean failed? If you weren't supposed to be the best, I wouldn't have paid top dollar to hire you." The man complained. The mysterious ninja took his giant zanbato sword and swung it to aim the point at his employer, "Oh, do stop whining, Gato….I, Zabuza Momochi, will take the hit personally."

Gato tried to ignore the point at his face as he said, "The enemy has obviously hired some ninja with great skill. Are you sure that you can do this? They will be on guard for any further attempts."

"Hmph, remember who you are talking to, I am Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist."

Back to our heroes, Team Seven was on a boat with Kaji, one of Tazuna's friends to smuggle them into the Land of Waves. "We should be seeing the bridge in a few minutes." Kaji said. Sure enough, they all saw the bridge and Naruto whispered, "Whoa, it is huge…"

Soon the team along with Tazuna reached the shore of the island and Kaji said, "Alright, this is as far as I go. Take care of yourself, Tazuna, my friend."

"Thanks for taking such a risk; I shouldn't have asked you of it."Tazuna replied. Kaji simply smiled and then he pushed off into the mist as Tazuna said, "Okay, now if I can just make it home in one piece." Kakashi said, "Yeah, yeah…"

They continued their journey until they stopped as Naruto flung a shuriken into the trees. "Ishide…"

"Got it," his brother said as he leaped into the bushes to retrieve a snow hare. "A snow hare…so somebody is here." Ishide said as he came out. Tazuna was confused as he asked, "What does a rabbit have to do with this?"

"Usually a snow hare's fur would be brown since it is spring, but it is white meaning that it was kept as a pet." Sakura answered.

The younger Uzumaki smirked, "Well, you are not entirely useless now…"

Kakashi warned, "Ishide, now is not the time or the place!"

Zabuza looked at the group as he thought, _"Those blonds…they managed to detect me at my previous location. Maybe those two were the ones who took down the Demon Brothers and their leader….well, well, that is Kakashi, the Copy Ninja….Kakashi of the Sharingan."_ He took out his sword and threw it before him.

Immediately Kakashi reacted, "Get down!" Everyone ducked as the gigantic sword flew over their heads and sank deep into a nearby tree. "Ah, Zabuza Momochi, A-Rank missing nin from Kirigakure, wanted for assassination attempt of the life of the Yondaime Mizukage, former member of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist." Kakashi said.

Ishide continued, "Prefers to use ninjutsu and taijutsu along with his kenjutsu, known for massive use of Suiton Jutsu. Accomplices are unknown." Zabuza chuckled, "I am honored that a genin has done their research on me….looks like that I was right that you and your brother defeating Meizu and Gozu."

"Actually our emo friend helped us out with the last one." Naruto said, thumbing at Sasuke, who was slightly annoyed with the 'emo' comment. Zabuza said, "Ah, forgive me then, we have three of you that may put up some of a fight and the famous Sharingan no Kakashi will probably kill me if I am not careful. Now will you be so kind as to surrender the old man?"

Sasuke thought as he glanced at Kakashi, _"Sharingan? Is he an…"_

Naruto whispered, "Hey, Ishide, what is the Sharingan?"

"The Sharingan is one of the dojutsu bloodlines that dates back to the founding of Konoha. It can copy any ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu with seals. Only sealless jutsu or fuinjutsu can't be copied, the greatest skill is that they can see things to a slower level and break down an opponent's skill to reflect it back at them."

"I don't get it."

"Basically the Sharingan can copy your jutsu and they are able to perform it right on the spot."

Sasuke thought to himself, _"Not only that, but the Sharingan can only manifest in the Uchiha clan…so why does Kakashi have it?"_ Zabuza said, "I am sure that you know about Kakashi as well, right, boy?"

Ishide smirked at the demon, "But of course, as the saying goes…keep your enemies close and keep your friends closer."

"Truer words have never been spoken…after all, he is a dangerous man. Leaving over a thousand jutsu, he has quite the record."

"The only question is…who is going to walk away from this alive?"

Zabuza replied to Ishide, "Good point….well, Kakashi; I guess that to get to the old man, I am going to have to take care of you first." He pulled out his sword and moved on top of the lake. "Over there!" cried out Naruto.

"Is he standing on water?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi thought, _"Clever bastard….he has build up a large amount of chakra already."_ Zabuza voiced out, "The finest of the ninja arts….**Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu.**" Suddenly a thick mist began to roll in and Ishide cursed, "Damn it, this mist is laced with chakra….I am not going to be able to detect him at all."

"So does that mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, it means we got to use our eyes and ears to find Zabuza in this mist, but the only problem is that he is a master of the Silent Killing technique."

Kakashi thought as he lifted his headband to reveal the Sharingan in his left eye, _"Zabuza will come after me first most likely since he is part of the Kiri Assassin Corps and a master of silent killing just like Ishide said. I wonder how he managed to get a hold of a Bingo Book."_

Then the Jonin said, "Stay sharp, guys! Manji formation!" The four Genin sprang into action and then a disembodied voice came out of the depths, "There are eight targets…." Sakura's voice quivered in fear, "W-What was that?"

"Kidney…heart…throat…spine…jugular vein…subclavian artery…so many choices, what vital, vulnerable place will I choose? Hehehehehe…." Suddenly there was a blood thirst in the air, shocking Sakura and Tazuna into terror while Sasuke and the Uzumaki twins were slightly fearful due to having experience in fearful situations.

"_All of this blood thirst coming from one man, it makes you feel as if you want to die yourself, knowing that he could kill you in an instant…huh, never thought that I would have feel this feeling again."_ Sasuke thought as his hand shook.

"Sasuke…calm down, even if he gets me, I will still protect you…all of you." Kakashi declared, then he turned to look at them, "I will not allow my comrades to die!" Zabuza answered, "I wouldn't bet on that."

The Genin froze as they realized that Zabuza has gotten in the blind spot of the Manji formation…the middle, which was where Sakura and Tazuna were. "Game Over!" the ex-Kiri ninja said. Movement was seen in a blur and everyone was flung away to the ground.

Sakura looked up to see that Kakashi had stabbed Zabuza, but then the body began to leak water instead of life-giving blood. The real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, poised to strike him, Naruto shouted, "Sensei! Behind you!" But it was too late; Kakashi was cleaved in two from the waist down in front of Sakura, who screamed.

The blood slowly turned into water as well, making Zabuza thought in surprise, _"A Mizu Bunshin? He was able to copy me in this mist?"_ Next thing he knew, a kunai was placed at his neck. "Don't move! It is as you said, Zabuza…Game Over…"

Naruto said, "That was awesome, sensei!"

Sakura giggled, "He's got him!"

Sasuke replied, "No, it's not over yet….in a Jonin battle like this, one of them has to die."

Zabuza chuckled, "The kid's right. It will take more to defeat me than mimicking me like a monkey…a lot more. Heh-heh, but you are good. After that little speech, you managed to copy my Mizu Bunshin and making your clone say those words, you knew that I focus on that while you yourself used the Kirigakure no Jutsu, watching my every move. Too bad for you…"

The real Zabuza finished as he appeared behind Kakashi, "Since I am not that easy to fool!" Naruto shouted, "That Zabuza was a Mizu Bunshin too?" Zabuza reared back to attack him with Kubikiri Hocho, but Kakashi reacted by ducking low.

The sword sunk into the ground and the ex-Kiri Jonin's next move was to turn and switch his hands on the large pommel of his sword to give Kakashi a huge kick, sending the white-haired man flying into the lake.

Zabuza ran after him, but he noticed that Kakashi discreetly dropped caltrops tactfully, then he heard a splash and smirked, "Idiot!" Ishide thought, _"Idiot is right! He specializes in Suiton Jutsu, which means water is a bad place for him to be near."_

Sakura thought, _"How did Kakashi-sensei get kicked all the way over there?" _

"_His taijutsu is amazing…Ishide was right about Zabuza."_ The Uchiha thought as he watched the battle unfold. "The Hatake appeared on the surface, _"This water….why is it so heavy?" _Zabuza appeared behind him as he made his hand signs, "Hah! Gullible fool! **Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu!**"

Kakashi said, "What? Damn!" The water rose up around Kakashi to trap him in a water ball, then the Konoha Jonin thought, _"Damn, I thought I could go underwater and regroup, but that was an error on my part." _

Zabuza said, "Heh-heh-heh, that prison is inescapable. You are trapped, Kakashi. With you running around free will make my job difficult. I will finish you off later after I have dealt with them. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The clone manifested on the shore and Kakashi said, "I knew that he was good, but not this good."

Zabuza replied, "I am…surely you know about the Bloody Kiri Exams?"

"Bloody…Kiri Exams?" Sakura voiced. Ishide answered, "Back in Kirigakure, their Academy exam was different….their exam was to kill your own classmate that you were assigned to in cold blood…fortunately they were forced to discard that rule because of 12-year-old Zabuza Momochi, who was not enrolled, just came up and butchered a hundred students without a moment's hesitation.

Zabuza smirked, "Those were fun times! Now you realized that you can't win against me!"

Kakashi shouted, "Listen! Run away from here with Tazuna! His Mizu Bunshin can only go a certain distance before he loses control of it. You can't win this fight!" Ishide began to smirk and Naruto said, "Ishide, I know that smirk…what are you planning?"

"How to get a scarecrow out of a water aerobic ball…Naruto, I need you and Sasuke to figure out a way to free Kakashi while I will distract Zabuza." Ishide said as he took out a scroll and unfurled it, then he bit his thumb to summon a katana. The blade and hilt were completely white as pure snow.

"Kubikiri Bocho, meet Hakureisaiga…." Ishide said.

"Oh, so you are a swordsman as well?"

"I dabble…"

"I see…then allow me to test if your dabbling was good enough!" The clone shouted as he appeared in front of Ishide with his sword raised high over his head, then the Uzumaki quickly rolled to the side as he felt the wind whipped past him.

Ishide slashed downwards only to meet Kubikiri Hocho with a loud clang, then Zabuza kicked Ishide in the chest and was about to kill him, but the Uzumaki quickly raised his sword with the tip first to make the clone impale himself on it, drenching Ishide with water.

A shuriken whipped past him as he heard Sasuke declare, **"Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!"** Zabuza mused as he watched the shuriken come at him, "So you managed to destroy my clone and then you aim a shuriken at my real body. Pretty good…for an…amateur!"

He caught the shuriken in his hand, but then another shuriken snapped out of the first as well_."A second shuriken in the shadow of the first one?" _the Water Ninja thought. **"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu?"** Kakashi thought to himself.

Sakura thought, _"I see, there was a second shuriken in his blind spot and with his hands full, he can't grab this one." _Zabuza jumped over the second shuriken at the last moment and shouted "Still an amateur!"

Sakura gasped out, "He dodged it!" But then a smirk appeared on Sasuke's face as the shuriken disappeared in a white plume of smoke to reveal Naruto with a kunai in hand. _"Here goes nothing!"_ the Genin thought.

He launched the weapon at Zabuza, making him let go of his hold on Kakashi while the kunai managed to cut his cheek and Zabuza ran at Naruto with the unfolded shuriken as he cried out in rage, "You little runt!"

Blood was spattered over the water…it was not Naruto's own, but Kakashi's from the back of his hand that he used to block Zabuza's assault. "Naruto, your scheme was brilliant! You have matured, all of you!"

Zabuza scoffed, "So you had me frustrated, so I could lose a hold of my focus and my prisoner."

"Wrong, Zabuza…you were forced to break it yourself. Just so you know, the same trick won't work on me twice. Your move…"

"Hmph…"

The two Jonin tensed up for a moment and then they sprang apart at the same time. Next, they both plunged themselves into flipping through hand signs at great speed, ending with the Bird sign. **"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" **

Sasuke thought in awe, _"So many hand signs…and Kakashi-sensei performed them all flawlessly." _Sakura thought in awe as she looked at the battle, _"What in the…is this ninjutsu?"_ Kakashi and Zabuza met in the middle, kunai against great cleaver.

"_Something…isn't right!"_ Zabuza thought, he decided to test this by moving and sure enough, Kakashi was copying every gesture and move. _"He sees…"_ Zabuza thought.

"Through them all," finished Kakashi.

"_What? Is he reading my mind? Curse him! He's…"_

"Got that sickeningly look in his eye, right?"

Zabuza got angrier and as he shouted, Kakashi followed, "Feh, you are just a pale imitation. I'm the genuine article! No mere copycat stands a chance against me!" Then the ex-Kiri Jonin became enraged and flipped through hand signs as he stated, "You mimic me like a parrot! I will close that beak for good!"

But then he paused as he saw a silhouette slightly behind Kakashi and thought, _"I-It's me…but th-that's impossible! Is this another of his illusions?"_ Kakashi's lone Sharingan eye began to spin and he made hand signs, **"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!"**

"Wh-What?" Zabuza said in shock as the jutsu hit him. _"This is absurd! Before I could even finish my ninjutsu, he used the same jutsu against me!"_ He was forced to go with the current and then crashed against a tree trunk as he thought, _"I can't keep up!"_

Soon he found himself pinned against the tree with kunai. "And that's that…"Kakashi said as he landed on a branch.

"What? Can you…see into the future?" asked Zabuza.

"Yes, I foresee your death!"

Suddenly Zabuza's life was snuffed out by two needles into his neck. Everyone turned and looked up to see a person with a mask hiding their face. "Heh heh, you prediction came true." She said. Kakashi went over to Zabuza and checked his pulse, "He is way dead…"

"Thank you for your help…I hope you don't mind my interfering, but I wanted the satisfaction of killing Zabuza." The masked girl said as she bowed.

"You are a hunter ninja, aren't you?" Ishide asked.

"Well, aren't you the smart one?"

"That is a compliment from such a pretty lady like yourself." Ishide said with a smirk. Kakashi thought to himself, _"Judging by the sound of her voice, she may be a bit older than Naruto and Ishide. She is not an average kid for sure."_

Naruto yelled out, "Who are you? What the hell is going on?"

Kakashi replied to him, "Calm down, Naruto…she is not the enemy."

"That is not what I mean….I mean, she killed Zabuza while we couldn't. What is up with that? Do we suck or something?"

"Look, Naruto, sometimes there will be people younger than you, but stronger than me. You have to expect the unexpected most of the time."

The hunter leaped down and grabbed Zabuza's body, "Your battle is over now and the remains must be disposed of lest they give up secrets to enemy. Well then I must be…" She was interrupted as Ishide leaped in the air and stabbed downwards, but she was able to do the Shunshin no Jutsu.

"Damn it, she got away…"

"What the hell is your problem, Ishide?" Sakura shouted.

"That was no hunter Nin…a real one would have killed him and destroy the body on sight, no matter who was in front of him or her. Zabuza is still alive and he just got away…" Ishide growled out as he sealed Hakureisaiga back into his scroll.

Kakashi said, "Which means that this mission just got harder…but for now we still have to escort Tazuna-san back home…" Then the man tipped forward and fell to the ground. "The effects of the Sharingan, I used too much chakra, now I can't even budge at all."

"If it isn't too much trouble…can two of you carry me?" Kakashi asked. Naruto and Sasuke stooped to the task and carried their fallen leader to Tazuna's house, where Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter cared for him.

"Are you all right, mister?" she asked.

"No." Kakashi answered, "But I will be in a week."

Sakura said, "The Sharingan is powerful, but it makes you wonder about the risks as well."

"So what will we do now, Kakashi? Zabuza and that hunter Nin girl will be back again, mostly likely very soon." Sasuke asked. "Tomorrow, we will start your training." Kakashi answered back, "But for now, rest…all of us had a long day today."

In the forest, the hunter mused, "First, I will remove the wrapping and then let the blood drain out, then…" Suddenly Zabuza grabbed her wrist, "Enough! I can do it myself."

"Well now awake already?"

"You have a finesse…of a butcher." Zabuza muttered as he yanked out one of the senbon from his neck.

"Please, gently, if you pull those out roughly, you could kill yourself."

Zabuza snapped, "How long are you going to keep that mask? Take it off!"

"Sorry, old habits die hard and it was useful for my my monkey pantomime act. They would have killed you if I hadn't stepped in."

"You could have used anything than the neck, but you are sadistic…"

"Exactly! I didn't want to harm your body, master and the neck is much easier to target the points for a deathlike state….but you will recover much quicker, right?"

"You are so innocent, so guileless. No wonder it's why I like you."

"Heh, well, I am only a child. Without us noticing, the mist has lifted. Next time…will you be alright?"

"Next time, I will break the Sharingan's spell…also watch out for the blonds, they are dangerous especially the younger one…there is something odd about him."

Back to Tazuna's house, Sakura said, "What is training going to do if we can't defeat Zabuza within an inch of our lives."

"Think about who rescued me. All of you have grown…especially Naruto, you have grown the most." Kakashi said. Ishide clapped his brother on the shoulder, "Now don't be shy, nii-san. Take a bow! We will be able to take down Zabuza and Gato."

"Gato? Ha, nobody can beat him."

They turned to see a kid in green overalls along with a yellow shirt, wearing a horizontal striped bucket hat. "Inari…where have you been?" Tazuna said.

"Welcome home, Grandpa…" the young boy said as he hugged him. Tsunami said, "Inari, these are the ninja that protect your grandfather, greet them properly." He looked at them for a moment and then he pointed at them, "But, kaa-san, they are all going to die."

"I am going to go on a limb to say that you lost someone close to your hearts because Gato killed him or her, right?"

Tazuna's family stiffened at Ishide's comment and the young Uzumaki continued, "Judging by your reactions, I am correct. Thought as much due to the ripped part of the portrait in the kitchen and the same picture is in Inari's room. The glass has been stained with tears, which could be passed off as salt-water from the ocean. May I ask his name?"

"Kaiza…" Tsunami answered.

"I see, he must have been a great man…"

"No, he wasn't…he lied to me! He said that he was going to protect me, this whole village with his two arms…and now he is dead."

"Imbecile…he never lied to you, kid."

"Then why? Why did he die?"

"Because this village decided to live in fear rather than stand up, he set himself up as an example of what true courage is and wanted the village to stand up with him, but all of you stood back and watched. Either way, he knew that this village would have gained hope once again, somebody would inherit that courage that he displayed….he hoped it would have been you, kid, but it seems that Tazuna is the only one who is willing…in result, this village was the one that killed your father by being cowards!"

"Ishide! That is enough!" Kakashi said sternly.

"What do you know of pain? You don't know me or this village! Your life is much better than mine!" Suddenly the room became cold and the civilians along with everyone else excluding Kakashi and Naruto looked at Ishide fearfully at Ishide's cold blue-green eyes. If you would look a bit closer, you could see that his eyes were flickering back and forth between blue-green to forest green.

"If…you were not Tazuna's grandson…I would fucking kill you where you stand. I don't know anything about pain? Ha, there is a laugh….at least you had parents; I never knew mine at all. At least you had smiles around you, I got nothing but sneers and cold looks and most of all, at least you had friends, I never had any at all. Tell me, have you ever been beaten, cursed, broken, stabbed, shocked, buried alive, poisoned, burned or tortured for something you never had control over? Huh? ANSWER ME!"

"N-N-N-No…" Inari stuttered under the suffocating killing intent.

"That's right…I have experienced all of them in spades and this…" Ishide lifted up his shirt to reveal the deep gashes on his chest, a crude marking of the Roman numeral number thirteen. "This is a reminder of my last suffering, that day I could take it anymore and I snapped…that day…was the day that I had my first kill at the age of five. When you experience my life, then you will know the true meaning of pain. Now if you excuse me, I am going to vent my anger and pent-up rage at some unfortunate tree before I kill someone."

As he ventured out, the room was very silent and they heard the door slam. After a few minutes, Sakura turned to Naruto, "Umm, Naruto, Ishide was just joking, right? He didn't have his first kill in the village."

Naruto looked down sadly, "No, Sakura, all of it did happen to him…because the same thing happened to me as well. As his older brother, I have tried to protect him from all of that pain….on that day, I couldn't do it and he snapped at it."

Kakashi said, "What he just gave you was the clean version of his life…there are many things that happened on that day that would sicken you to your stomach. " The Uzumaki stood up, "I am going to see if he is okay. Inari-san's words must have upsetted him a lot to reveal that scar."

"May I come with you, Naruto…?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura …unlike me, Ishide doesn't like you much for many reasons. He doesn't believe you aren't serious in your career, you taste in romance is twisted, you yell and abuse people too much…but most of all, Sakura, you constantly remind him of what he used to be back then…but thank you for being concerned."

**Forest-** Ishide sat meditating, surrounding by a bunch of bruised or cut down trees. His knuckles were bleeding a bit and he was breathing hard as he thought, _"That little brat….I know that he has suffered a lot, but to accuse me of not knowing pain was the wrong thing to do."_

"**Can you blame him; the Land of Waves has never known any ninja in the area until Gato reared his ugly head in the village."** Nekoshi said to his container.

"_Nekoshi? I have not heard from you in a while." _

"**Well, you were a bit preoccupied during the mission. You must continue your training in using my chakra."**

Ishide bit his lip, _"Yes, but to control your chakra perfectly, I would need to fight you for it…why do that when I can just ask."_

"**Because one, there is a certain level that you can take up without it overwhelming you and two, without doing this, my unpurified chakra will harm your body. In other words, you have no choice but to do so…to truly work together, you must fight to control my chakra."**

Ishide sighed, _"I might die doing this, right?"_

"**Well, it wouldn't be interesting if I didn't test you a bit."**

"_I am still under your tutelage and…you are the one only connection I have with my parents besides the Kyuubi. After all, you were the one who saved here from experiencing more pain."_

"**No, she saved me…I sense that our brothers are nearby."**

"_Well, then let's greet them."_

The Uzumaki broke off his conversation with his tenant to see that Naruto was approaching him. The boy whistled, "Whew, you really did a number on this place, Ishide…are you okay, little brother?" Ishide got up as he said, "Yeah, I am fine now…sorry about that, I guess I got a little too emotional back there."

Naruto smiled sadly, "You know, hiding your emotions is bad for your health. I was afraid you were going to kill Inari for that comment."

"I would have….but causing more grief over whose pain story is the most tear-jerking is not a good idea to start on your first major mission."

Naruto chuckled at the poor joke, "True…don't worry, little brother, we will get through this."

"Yeah…you and me against the world."

"Right...you know, Sakura-chan wanted to come to see you."

Ishide looked up, "Okay, that is a cruel joke even for you, nii-san."

"No, seriously, despite that she resents you for calling her a fake kunoichi, a howler monkey and among other things as well."

"Which all of them she is…"

"She looked concerned for you…"

Ishide said softly, "Really, huh? I will have to observe this concern for myself. Let's head back!"

**House-** Ishide and Naruto walked inside the establishment, causing everyone to look at them. Ishide's eyes darted around until they rested on Inari. "Inari-san…I won't apologize for my words earlier, but I will apologize for getting angry at you. Unlike you, I never had parents like Tsunami-san, me and my brother had to grow up in order to survive. No friends, no parents, nothing…you have all you need here and yet you are complaining that you pain was the only one in the world, so for that…I'm sorry."

Inari looked down, "Then…I am sorry as well, for thinking that nobody particularly ninjas had no pain at all. Kakashi-san told me about your hardship in the village."

Ishide smiled, "Thank you, Inari and don't worry, we will protect your grandfather no matter what. We will get rid of Gato for you…all of you."

Inari nodded and smiled back, and then Kakashi said, "Alright, then now that you are back…let's go and start your training, I have enough energy to stand on crutches."

**Forest- **"Okay, all of you have not mastered your chakra." Kakashi stated.

"What?" Naruto said.

"Let me explain…chakra manipulation requires physical and spiritual energy. Depending on what jutsu you wish to use, the amount of energy need to absorb would vary as well as the make-up of elements needed to combine. Right now, none of you are using your chakras effectively! No matter how great the amount of chakra you summon and manipulate, if you can't maintain your balance…then whatever the technique is, not only will the effectiveness of your maneuver will be cut in half…but you could blunder so bad, the jutsu may not be released. Because of that, you lose strength and squander your energy for a fight."

"So…how do we avoid this?"

Kakashi answered, "You have to learn to control your body through the harshest training. Go out on a limb and learn from experience."

Sasuke asked, "What is it?"

"Tree climbing…" Kakashi replied.

Naruto scratched his head, "But how is climbing a tree going to help us manipulate our chakras?"

Ishide said, "He means the tree-climbing exercise. By using chakra at your feet, you will be able to stick to the tre…it's like the leaf exercise that Iruka-sensei made us do when we snuck out."

"I know that, but I still don't get it…" his brother said, scratching his head.

"Can you show us this exercise, sensei?" asked Sasuke.

Kakashi nodded and channeled chakra to his feet, dispersing a small ring of dust and then the Hatake walked up the tree. "He…actually is doing it." Sakura said in disbelief. Kakashi said, standing upside down on a branch, "The trick to the exercise is to figure out the amount of chakra you need to get up the tree. Use these kunai to mark your progress and you may need to run to get a head start."

Naruto knelt down and grabbed his own kunai, "Seems easy enough. Alright, let's go!" Everyone ran at the tree after summoning chakra to them fast. Naruto slipped and fell on his back, Sasuke got up at least fifteen steps before the bark was crushed and he had to jump off after marking his place.

Ishide kept moving up along with Sakura until he stopped due to feeling his maintain of chakra slip. "This is easy…" Sakura said from her branch.

"Hey, Ishide-aniki, Sakura-chan, good job."

"Aniki?" Sakura asked.

"Comment and I will kill you after I am done with him. He is so getting pranked for the next five weeks for this."Sakura giggled a bit and Ishide looked at her, "What?"

"It's better when you aren't so serious all the time."

The boy looked away, "Someone has got to act serious, besides most of the time Naruto acts like a little kid…it's his best quality…he still has his innocence."

Kakashi thought, _"So obviously Sakura would get up farther than the boys, but Ishide has far better grasp at his chakra despite his supposed level. Naruto and Sasuke are exactly at the level I expected."_ Then he spoke up, "It seems that the future Hokage is slipping up and the Uchiha clan is not as amazing as I thought."

Suddenly Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry skyrocketed and made them both run up the tree again. "Sakura, Ishide, I want you to continued the exercise until you get to the top." Both shouted, "Hai!" Ishide stabbed the kunai into the tree and then he fell backwards, keeping his back to the ground. As he felt that he was coming close to the ground, he used chakra to slow down his descent by pressing his feet to the tree.

"Hmm…so that's the problem…"

Sakura leapt down and shouted, "Ishide, are you crazy?"

"If I was, then I obviously wouldn't be a ninja. I was testing something actually…when you have adrenaline rushing through your veins; it is much harder than when you are calm. Now let's get to work."

**Gato's Secret Base-** Haku had just finished putting her master in bed when Gato decided to work in along with his samurai bodyguards, Zori and Waraji. "So even the renowned 'Demon of the Mist' couldn't do the job either, huh?" Gato gloated.

Haku glared at Gato, which made Zori and Waraji rest their hands on the hilts of their katanas. Gato raised his hand and said, "It's fine…so you have nothing to say." He moved his hand to touch Zabuza's shoulder, but Haku grabbed Gato's wrist so tightly that the bones cracked completely. "Gah! My arm!" Gato screamed.

Haku said, "Don't you ever lay your dirty hands on Zabuza-sama!" Zori and Waraji chose to act by drawing their swords…too bad that Haku was pissed off and had their swords at their necks.

"_What the…?" _

"_We didn't even see him move!"_

Oh and these guys except Gato think that she is a he. "Now I'm in a bad mood, so I suggest that you get the hell out of the room." She dropped the swords as Gato moved away, gripping his arm as he said, "I want that man dead by the end of the week, Zabuza!"

The door slammed shut and Zabuza spoke up, "You didn't have to do that, Haku." The girl replied back, "Look, I know you could have killed the man, but we need Gato alive than dead."

The man replied, "Fine, so what have you found out about the Sharingan?"

Haku smiled and began to explain the secrets of the Sharingan to her master, in the meantime, let's turn our attention back to our heroes in the forest. Sakura was resting while Ishide sat under the tree, watching Sasuke and Naruto try to climb their respected trees.

"They are still going?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Yep," Ishide answered, "As an Uchiha, Sasuke's chakra network holds more chakra due to the fact that he has to activate his bloodline, the Sharingan. Naruto's own is way higher than Sasuke, which is why that he has trouble with controlling it at first, explaining the hyperactivity."

The girl turned to him, "Then what about your chakra level?"

"Mine is practically directly between Sasuke and Naruto, about high chunin to low Jonin reserves…but I have more control that he does because I can channel my strength into something constructive." He held out his hand, **"Ken…"** Instantly Hakureisaiga appeared in his hand and he held out the katana in front of him horizontally.

Then he stood up and turned to slice into a thick branch. "How in the world did that sword appear in your hand?" Ishide held up his gloved right hand, which had red marking for the kanji 'blade' on it. "This glove was specialized to summon weapons on the battlefield quickly from a different scroll, but nobody could figure out the anomaly to bring it out…until now."

"You know fuinjutsu?"

"Only the basics, why did you think that I was always reading during Iruka-sensei's lectures?"

Sakura admired the blade, "It's beautiful…it looks like untouched snow, why are you being so nice to me?"

"I heard from Naruto that you were concerned with me and to be honest, I hardly believe that statement from him…so I am giving you the benefit of doubt." Just then Kakashi hobbled over towards them, "Where did you get that sword, Ishide? I have never seen you use it when I set up spars."

Ishide stated in monotone, "A shinobi must not reveal everything about him or herself. Plus I don't trust many adults…last one I trusted ended up trying to carve a second mouth across my throat."

The Jonin sighed, "Did you steal it?"

"No, a friend bought it for me and customized at Senzuki Weapons, Senzuki-san is my alibi."

"Fine, tomorrow I want you and Sakura to help and protect Tazuna on the bridge."

Ishide smirked a bit, "I think Sakura would faint at the words of manual labor."

"Hey!"

"What? It was a joke!" Ishide said as he blocked a kunai from Sakura and ran from her with the pink-haired girl at his heels. "You are so dead when I get my hands on you!" Kakashi shook his head, "Actually I am more worried about them killing each other than Tazuna's life."

The next day, Ishide and Sakura were working at the bridge when Tazuna asked, "So where is your brother and Mr. Emo at?"

"Sasuke-kun is not emo…"

"She is sort of right….not only he is not emo, but he possibly might be gay and emo." Ishide answered.

Sakura glared at him and Ishide shrugged as he said, "Come on, the guy in all of the four years I have seen in the Academy hasn't looked, touched or even winked at any of the girls. Hell, he never even asked anyone out! This gives the result that he might be gay. As for being emo, the guy stares at the front like he got heat vision trying to burn the chalkboard and he acts like a loner like me."

"He is angry….considering that he lost his clan in one night."

"True, but the right reason is that Sasuke doesn't have time for dating or anything social wise. He wants retribution and for that, he desires power. No relationships, no socializing, no nothing….so let us all accept the fact that Sasuke is emo and possibly gay."

Tazuna chuckled, "I like you, kid. For a second, I thought you were a jackass…"

"Well, I prefer the term smartass or wiseass actually."

"Noted…but you are alright."

Ishide smiled, "You are not so bad yourself…for a drunk that is."

Tazuna laughed a bit, "I will take that as a compliment." Suddenly a man about Tazuna's age came over to him, "Tazuna…we need to talk."

"What is it, Giichi?"

"I want to quit…this job is getting too dangerous."

"What? Why now, the bridge will be completed in three days."

"But Gato…"

"Look, Gato is nothing but a spineless man with his money protecting him. Take that away and he is useless. This bridge represent that under hardship, if we have a sliver of hope, we will prevail against all odds."

Tazuna turned and picked up a piece of cedar, "Giichi…you don't have to come in tomorrow." With that, the bridge builder worked away. Soon lunchtime came and Tazuna, along with Ishide and Sakura walked into the market.

"There is hardly any food here." Sakura commented quietly.

"This is a result of Gato's tyranny. Kids are forced to to beg as well as adults." Ishide said. Suddenly Sakura reacted by kicking a man in the face, who she mistakenly thought that he was trying to grope her. "Tazuna-san, we better go quickly before Sakura here cause any more damages." Ishide said.

Then he felt a tug on his pants leg and looked down to see a kid in a cut-out pillowcase and shaggy hair. "Hey…hold on one second." Ishide said as he took out a box of candy and gave it to him, "There you go…"

The boy's face lit up and nodded his thanks to Ishide before he ran off. "Tazuna….I hope that you finished that bridge quickly, this town needs to be restored and fast." Ishide said as he watched the boy disappeared into the crowd.

"Yeah, it also needs its hope back as well…."

Next day, Sasuke and Naruto were halfway up their trees. "You guys are getting up quicker than I expected." Kakashi stated. "Never underestimate a ninja, sensei." Naruto commented. Sasuke grunted, "Hn..."

"Alright, Ishide, Sakura, you two are going to spar against each other." The bubblegum-haired girl said, "But sensei…I might hurt him, I have beaten him in spars at the Academy." Ishide said with a sweat drop, "Ok, where are you when we left Konoha?"

Sakura said, "Protecting Tazuna-san…"

Ishide sighed, "Whatever, the reason that I lost to you was because I let you and Naruto wanted me to boost your confidence back then. I know that my brief fight with Zabuza was pure luck, but I do have skill."

"I don't believe you…"

"Okay, how about a bet? If you win, I will get Sasuke to go on a date with you, no strings attached. Also I will do your bidding for the next five months. If I win, you will be training with me to be a true kunoichi for five weeks with no complaints and do my bidding during that time. To give you an edge, no hands…"

Sakura said, "You are underestimating me, Ishide….I will make you regret that, I agree…Kakashi-sensei will be here as a witness."

Kakashi thought, _"Oh, boy, Sakura, you have just been duped…for the better at least though."_ The Hatake said, "Ready? Hajime!" Sakura threw out a kick at Ishide's face, but he ducked under it and sweep kicked her remaining leg, making her fall to the ground.

"Come on, Sakura, I am dying over here." Ishide taunted.

Sakura got up and threw a punch at Ishide's face, but the Uzumaki pivoted on his right foot, turning so he was facing the same direction as that Sakura was facing. Then he sent a head butt to the side of her head and jumped in the air to kick her in the forehead, sending her flying backwards.

"Okay, now see about that short temper of hers." Ishide thought to himself. He mimicked Ino's voice, "Come on, forehead girl! If you can't beat me, you will never get Sasuke-kun's heart. After all, I am so much closer to winning his heart than you are, they should have put me on this team instead of you!"

That comment made Sakura snarl and attack Ishide more wholeheartedly, "Shut up!" she shouted, "SHANNARO!" Ishide dropped down to kick her mid-section and thought, _"That was close as hell…"_ Soon every punch and kick was dodged, the sounds that were heard were Sakura's yelps of surprise and anger along with Ishide's kicks landing on her body.

Finally Sakura collapsed to the ground and Ishide asked, "Are you done yet?" Sakura panted in exertion, "Why…why can I beat you…like before?" Kakashi said, "Because he hid his strength by letting you defeat him back to the Academy, Sakura. As a result, he was able to analyze your taijutsu and knew what buttons to push to anger you. When said that he became the idea of the shinobi, he did it to an extent. the only emotions that he ever shows is anger, rage and distrust to everyone, to others that he trust is compassion."

The younger Uzumaki said, "We will officially start your separate training after we finish this mission. I will not have to be the only one that doesn't have any skills at all." The boy walked away and Sakura asked softly, "Why is he so adamant on doing this to me?"

"Because…before he got that scar, he used to be like you, Sakura. He was like Naruto, always happy and carefree…if you died, then he would be affected the most, but he could have done something about it." Kakashi said.

Sakura watched as Ishide's retreating back disappeared in the forest. Later in the morning on the next day, Haku shedded her usual attire to wear a pink floral kimono and let her hair down. She took a stroll through the forest, searching for the herb she needed to help Zabuza recover faster.

A small robin landed on her shoulder as she hummed a tune that she vaguely remembered in her younger days. She smiled at it and turned back to her work until she noticed something in the corner of her eye. _"That boy…he was with Sharingan Kakashi." _She thought as she looked at him.

"_Should I kill him now while he is sleeping?"_ Haku thought as her hand stretched over Naruto's neck. Against her judgment as a shinobi, she decided to wake him. "Hey, wake up, you may catch your death of cold." She said.

The Uzumaki groggily woke up after rubbing his eyes, "Thanks, but who are you, miss?"

Haku giggled, "I'm Haku…"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki…" Then he noticed the plant that Haku had in her basket, "Do you need help with that?" Haku said, "I don't want to be a bother…"

Naruto protested, "No, no…not at all. You went through the trouble of waking me up, it is the least I could do for that, is this the plant?"Haku nodded, "Thank you, Naruto…I noticed that you are wearing a headband, are you a ninja?"

"Yep, I am training, so I can get stronger to defeat Gato and his goons."

"I see, do you have any precious people to protect?"

"Yes, I do and I will do whatever it takes to protect them when they need help."

"I hope you win against Gato…and I hope to see you soon."

"I hope so as well…Haku. I will see you the bridge tomorrow then." The girl stiffened a bit, "So you knew…why didn't you kill me?"

"I could ask you the same…Zabuza is like a father figure to you, isn't he?"

"Then you understand that I would fight you to the death to protect him."

"I do…I would gladly give my life to save my brother…I just wish that weren't enemies or I would have found a way to avoid fighting you four."

"I am sorry that it has to be this way, but I must protect my master."

"And I…my family and friends. I wish you good luck, Haku…"

Haku took up her basket and walked away. To her surprise, a lone tear fell from her eye, dropping on a nearby flower. In the house, Kakashi was doing push-ups with Sakura and Tazuna on his back. "I wanted to ask you something…why are you still here even when I lied to you?" Tazuna asked.

"The same reason as Ishide said to you. To abandon your duty is not courageous and below the courageous, there is nothing. The previous Hokage has said those words. Shinobi don't move because of money alone. Ok, I am done…"

The two got off and Kakashi flexed his hand, _"My body is almost back to normal….looks like we will be facing Zabuza tomorrow."_ At the same time, Zabuza crushed an apple without effort just as Haku came in, "You are back up to your usual strength…"

Zabuza nodded, "Yeah, it is almost time….Haku, prepare for battle, we will attack the bridge tomorrow at noon."

_**Hakureisaiga-There! Practically half of the whole Wave mission in one chapter, now I know that I have been pushing my character more into the spotlight than Naruto, so I am going to do my best to focus completely on Naruto in the near future.**_


	3. Battle of Wave

**Chapter 3- Battle of Wave**

"Where is Naruto?" asked Ishide. Sasuke answered, "He wasted too much chakra last night when we finished the tree-climbing exercise, so he probably is still sleeping the day away."

"Fine…we will leave him here; Naruto alone is more than a match for Gato's thugs. I wouldn't put it past him to send some visitors to this humble abode." Kakashi said and thus Team Seven, minus Naruto left with Tazuna to work at the bridge, but little that they knew…that the enemy was in wait for them.

"Zabuza! I want Tazuna dead! Do you hea…" Crack! Zabuza's foot slammed down on the communicator and said, "Haku, remind me to kill the insect after we get paid."

"Noted, Zabuza-sama…"

"Let's go."

A few minutes later, our heroes arrived at the bridge and Kakashi said quietly, "Something is not right here…" Instantly the Genin moved into battle mode as they saw bodies sprawled on the ground, Tazuna ran to a barely alive one and asked," Who did this?"

"M-Monster." Was the man's last word to Tazuna, then evil laughter began to fill through the air and Zabuza was revealed…ten of them actually. "So you have returned, I have been longing for the chance to destroy you two…"

"Two?" Kakashi asked.

"I want that kid's sword for my partner and it looks like that I won't get it without a fight." The swordsman replied.

"Damn straight!" Ishide said with a growl. Kakashi replied, "You will have to get through me to get it. Sasuke, take care of them." The Uchiha nodded and and took out two kunai, he moved with blinding speed and when he appeared back to his original position, the ten Mizu Bunshins of Zabuza were instantly turned into water.

"Well, Haku, it looks like you have a rival in speed." Zabuza commented.

"Indeed, Zabuza-sama."

Ishide said, "You want her or should I deal with her?"

"No way, you had those two chunin to yourself…this is my battle, I don't like to be fooled." He ran at Haku, who in turn met his charge. The two battled in an impressive display of speed in one corner while Kakashi ordered, "Sakura, Ishide, protect Tazuna. Ishide, if you see an opening, take it."

"Got it,"

Kakashi turned to Zabuza, "Hopefully we can finish our fight, but knowing you, you have something up your sleeve." He reached up to lift his headband, but Zabuza moved to attack him using a unique-looked kunai found only in Kiri.

"So you are afraid of losing your life?" asked Kakashi.

"No, I am not afraid of you using that eye of yours if that is what you are implying."

"If not, then why did you stop me from using it?"

"Hmph."

Then the ex-Jonin yanked out the kunai from Kakashi's hand, which was preventing him from stabbing his head. Zabuza said, "It doesn't matter, I know the weakness of the Sharingan now." The Hatake thought, _"What…what is he talking about?"_

"_Shit, that girl…."_ Ishide thought to himself, _"She must have been observing the battle. In order for the Sharingan's technique to work, Kakashi has to look into Zabuza's eyes to pierce his mind and copy his moves. With the Kirigakure no Jutsu, Kakashi won't be able to see Zabuza at all and Zabuza will have the advantage in silent killing…he doesn't even need to see to kill without making a sound….this is bad."_

**Sasuke and Haku-** The two were currently stuck in a standstill, trying to overpower each other with senbon and kunai. "It's over…"Haku declared.

"What are you talking about? We are both tied to each other, neither of us has the advantage." Sasuke pointed out. The ice user moved her hand, "Indeed, but there is water all around us and your two hands are occupied, on the other hand, I only need one hand to do this."

She began to use one-handed seals to Sasuke's surprise and shouted, "**Suiton: Sensatsu Shisho!**" She stamped at the water that was spilled when Sasuke earlier destroyed the clones, which were made into sharpened needles.

As the needles sped towards Sasuke, Haku jumped away, leaving her opponent to the mercy of her jutsu. _"Okay, just focus the chakra to my feet and…"_Sasuke thought as he gathered his chakra to his feet and launched himself in the air just as the water needles descended on him.

Haku, for a moment, thought that Sasuke was dead until she heard a familiar whistling sound. She quickly jumped back as four shurikens landed on the floorboard of the bridge. "You aren't that fast at all, from now on, you will be dodging from my attacks." He stated.

The Uchiha attacked the faux Hunter Nin ferociously. He began by trapping both of her hands using one of his kunai, then he was able to maneuver her downwards by sending his second kunai at her, causing the introduction to Haku's face with Sasuke's foot.

"_Impossible! Haku is actually losing in a battle of speed?" _Zabuza thought in mild shock and then he shouted, "Haku, stop playing around!" The girl got up and said, "Impressive, your skill almost rivals mine. Looks like I can't take any more chances with you at all."

Haku made a unique hand sign and said, "**Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho!**" Instantly the air around Sasuke became cold as six-foot tall mirrors appeared, hovering slightly above the ground and surrounding the young Uchiha like a dome.

Then Haku stepped in the mirror closest to her, expecting to crash into it, but instead her body enmeshed itself into the mirror and suddenly clones or illusions of her persona appeared in every one of the mirrors. "Now your demise begins… it is no use for you to resist." Haku stated.

Immediately the Uchiha plunged himself into his favorite hand signs, "**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**" The fireball sprang forward from Sasuke's mouth to crash into the mirror that he saw Haku first appear in. The steam cleared to reveal that Sasuke's fireball had no effect, only the edges were slightly melted.

"_What? Fire always melts ice…what kind of jutsu is this?"_ he thought to himself.

"I told you it is no use…my jutsu has never been defeated." Haku said as she held up three senbon each between her knuckles and the illusions did the same. The senbon were fired at Sasuke, who tried to dodge them all.

One managed to cut his cheek and caused him to slow down in order to have some of her needles to pierce his body. The Uchiha screamed in pain as the weapons pierced his back and arms. Sakura heard her crush's cries and started to worry, "Ishide, can you go and help Sasuke-kun please?"

The boy answered back, "I highly doubt that Zabuza will let me move from this position, but let's see… **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Ten clones appeared and Ishide said, "Scatter…" The clones went over to Haku and Sasuke's positions to help, but then Zabuza sent shurikens to dispel them all.

"_Damn, he is not going to let me budge an inch at all….it looks like Sasuke is going to be on his own for a while, Sakura or at least until Naruto comes. So all we can do is stay focused and pray to whatever God that we can think of because this battle will be very intense."_

Meanwhile at the house, Naruto woke up to hear a scream from Tsunami. He immediately grabbed his pouch and a kunai to silently creep down the stairs. He used the kunai to peer around the corner to faintly see two men holding Tsunami hostage with Inari in front of them.

"Hey, we only need one hostage, right? So what do we do with the kid?" Zori asked.

"You can kill him, Zori, considering that I tested my blade on that boar in the forest."

Naruto thought, _"So let's see….the rest of my team must be fighting Zabuza and Haku right now and Gato or Zabuza himself sent those thugs to capture either Tsunami or Inari to persuade Tazuna into surrender." _

"No! I swear that if you harm my child, I will bite off my tongue and drown in my own blood!" Tsunami shouted, glaring at them. Waraji growled out, "Why you little…." But Zori stopped him, "Wait….Gato said that the one we capture must be unharmed. Let's leave the kid alone; besides he is shaking in his boots, he is too scared to even breathe."

Waraji looked at Inari, seeing the fear in his eyes, "Fine, Zori, we better go. You know, how Gato gets impatient easily."

"Right…move, bitch!" his companion ordered as he roughly shoved Tsunami outside and then Naruto came out of hiding as the two left. "Naru…" Inari started to say until the Genin clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Inari, I know that you are surprised to see me, but in order for me to rescue your mother, I need for you to pretend to be hysterical to distract them a bit and let down their guard, okay?"

Inari nodded and Naruto smiled at him, "Don't worry, kid. She will be in good hands in a few moments." Naruto left the house and went on the rooftop while Inari bravely shouted, "You leave my mother alone!" The two samurai turned back at Inari while Naruto jumped behind them silently.

Then he crouched down and jumped in the air to slam a hard punch to Waraji's head, making the samurai slump to the floor in bliss unconsciousness. "What the?" Zori started to say until Naruto gave him a devastating uppercut.

The metal ring of the kunai on Naruto's middle finger gave the distinctive force to break his jaw and lay out the enemy cold. "Naruto…" Tsunami said in relief as Naruto released her from her bonds. Inari hugged his mother while Tsunami said, "Thank you, Naruto-kun…"

"No problem, now is there someone that you know you two can stay by?"

Tsunami nodded and Naruto made a Kage Bunshin, "This clone will escort and protect you to your destination. Inari…you did good, you were very brave. If your father was still alive, I know that he would be very proud of you."

Inari beamed up at him and said, "Be careful, Naruto-nii-san."

"Hey, it's me…I am always careful."

"Oh, like the time you almost kissed Sasuke." Inari replied.

Naruto almost tripped, "Remind me to kill my little brother…when did you two talk?"

"Last night, I now understand that the life of a ninja can have its share of pain as well as ordinary life." Naruto replied with a smile, "Well, he is opening up just a little. I better go; your grandpa might be in trouble right now." The elder Uzumaki moved from the house as his clone escorted Tsunami and Inari.

"Naruto-nii, Ishide-nii, please win…."

**Kakashi-** _"Shit….Sasuke is in trouble with that girl. Obviously a survivor from the Kiri Bloodline Purges, neither I nor Ishide will be able to help him at all since Zabuza had deemed him a slight target for the sword. If I go after her, Zabuza will kill the bridge builder even if Ishide defended him. Plus he will counter my clones with water clones…this is…"_

Suddenly shuriken were thrown from the depths of the mist, but luckily Kakashi's Sharingan caught them at the last second as he mechanically moved his arm to block them all. "Excellent, Kakashi, you managed to live. I thought that I would have to move on to the kid already." Zabuza said out of nowhere.

"Why are you going after Ishide? He is no threat…"

"Hmph, that kid is a weird one, but something in my gut tells me not to underestimate him at all."

The Hatake's black and red eyes darted back and forth, desperately searching for some sign of Zabuza, _"That's funny…with those barrage of shuriken, he could have killed me then…unless…oh no."_ The Jonin rushed to Tazuna's position just as he saw Zabuza about to strike Tazuna's back.

Sakura felt the bloodlust coming and turned to see him, luckily when she screamed, Ishide reacted as he pulled Tazuna away and took the strike with Hakureisaiga. "Nice try, Zabuza, but here is your consolidation prize…your death!"

Suddenly Zabuza was surprised at the output of the Genin's strength, _"The Kubikiri Hocho weights about eighty pounds, yet he is pushing me back slightly without using chakra to help…who is this boy?"_ Due to the ex-Jonin's train of thought, Ishide gave one last shove to make Zabuza unbalanced, then stated, "Goodbye…"

Kakashi came up behind Zabuza to deal with him, but the Mist nukenin recovered and kicked the Sharingan wielder away, then he attempted another strike at the Uzumaki, but he was stopped as three kunai were thrown in front of him.

"Sorry, but I got dibs on hurting my aniki later."

All of them turned to see Naruto had arrived. "You took your damn time…"

"Yeah, considering either Zabuza or midget sent thugs to get insurance, it took a bit of time."

"Bastard…" Zabuza muttered, "I told him that I would handle it myself."

Sakura shouted, "Naruto! Help Sasuke-kun, he is in trouble with the masked kid." Naruto nodded and ran over to Sasuke's position, "So you have come to fight, eh, Haku? Is it Zabuza that important to you that you would fight to the death?"

Kakashi said to Zabuza, "You might have your little ice girl, but my team is more resourceful….Sakura, the smartest girl ever to graduate the Academy. Sasuke, the last heir to the Uchiha bloodline, the Sharingan and lastly, the most unpredictable and mysterious ninja brothers, Naruto and Ishide Uzumaki."

Zabuza thought, "_So that kid is the last Uchiha, I thought that they were all wiped out." _Zabuza closed his eyes, "Time to finish this!" He slipped back into mist once again.

**Naruto and Sasuke-** The Uchiha was in a heap of trouble. There he was…on the floor, kneeling before the mirrors with various senbon fixed in his body. "Stop resisting and give up now, so you life will be spared." Haku stated.

"Oh, that will never happen….he can be a stubborn ass when he wants to."

Sasuke admonished, "You idiot! Why didn't you stay outside, we would have attacked from the inside and outside."

"No, it wouldn't work…Ishide had a clone stationed and told me about the mirrors. Haku is taking a huge risk with this jutsu since it takes a lot of chakra to maintain it."

"So why didn't the clone help me?"

"Because one, you are a stubborn ass and it would have been a step on your pride for him to help you and two, that was the only one he had made ahead, so he could use a replacement on Tazuna with it."

"So what the hell are you doing? You don't have any jutsu to work with destroying this jutsu."

Naruto smirked, "Are you sure? Remember, like Ishide, you have no idea what I can do." He moved beside Sasuke to see Haku surrounding them. "I see…you two won't quit. Then I will not hesitate to kill you both, I will harden my heart and take on the path of shinobi."

Both Naruto and Sasuke gave Haku a devil-may-care smirk and Haku quickly launched senbons at Naruto and Sasuke, making the boys dodge quickly. "Sasuke! Fire!" Naruto shouted as he flipped through hand signs.

"Right…**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**"

Naruto finished his own and shouted, "**Futon: Houkou no Shishi!**" He sucked in air and roared out. The fireball collided along with Naruto's wind jutsu to make a big explosion of flames and smoke. The blast was able to crack several of the mirrors and obscuring Haku's vision.

"_Damn it, where are they?"_she thought. Suddenly clones of Naruto moved from the smoke, but Haku used her superior speed to take out the clones and push Naruto back to the ground.

"Wait….Naruto, do that again."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and asked, "For what?"

Sasuke replied angrily, "Just do it, damn it!"

The Uzumaki made clones again while Sasuke strained his eyes as he kicked up the water. Haku destroyed the clones once again with her speed and Sasuke watched as the water sloshed back and forth. _"I think that I saw it that time…"_ he thought to himself.

Naruto got off the ground, "Damn, still can't get through…"

"One more time!"

"Right! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Clones of Naruto appeared to attack the mirrors again only to give the same result of Haku destroying the clones, but Sasuke, this time, was able to track her movement and launched a deadly fireball at her.

Haku thought in complete shock, _"He can see me? But how can he…"_ She returned to the mirror with her pants leg singed and saw that Sasuke's once black eyes had became blood red with two tomoe in his right eye and one in the left.

"_Sharingan? But that means that he's…" _she thought.

Zabuza thought, _"So Kakashi was not bluffing…to think he would have the last legacy of the Uchiha clan on his team." _Naruto said, "Nice eyes, Sasuke…" Sasuke smirked, "Thanks, now we will win for sure."

"Don't get cocky just yet…we still have Haku to deal with."

Haku answered, "Correct, Naruto-kun, it is not wise to let your guard just yet."

Naruto thought to himself, _"I hope that we can finish this quickly. Though Sasuke has gotten his Sharingan at the cost of me expending a lot of chakra with the Kage Bunshin along with rushing to the bridge." _ True to his word as the battle raged on, Naruto was getting slower than normal and to avoid Haku's senbon, Sasuke had to save him multiple times.

Haku noticed that factor and with a heavy heart, she exploited the weakness. As the senbon were released from her hand and she charged after them to fortify the killing bow. Sasuke rushed over to Naruto and shielded his body from the senbon, then threw Haku to the side.

Naruto, disoriented and confused, looked up at Sasuke to reveal that he took the killing blow. "Sasuke…why?" The Uchiha coughed up blood as he replied, "How should I know? My body moved on its own…"

"I didn't ask for your help!"

Sasuke teetered backwards and Naruto caught him in his arms, "Next time, I will be sure to leave you alone then…heh, funny, I have not even attain my ambition…to kill Uchiha Itachi, my own brother, the one responsible for my clan's death." The Uchiha turned to look at his blond comrade, "Naruto, don't you dare die too, alright?"

Naruto nodded slowly as tears threatened to come out. Sasuke smiled as his eyes started to lose focus and his eyes became shut forever. "I'm sorry, Naruto…but it is a life of a shinobi…a world where it's kill or be killed. I had no choice in the matter…"

"Haku…shut up and fight…"

Haku was surprised as Naruto's voice, which seemed to have an air of innocence just turned into a vengeful tone. "Because I am going to kill you!" the blond declared as red chakra exploded out of his body, eventually joining at the top to form a fox's head.

Ishide felt the wave first and thought, "So Naruto has finally rustled the Kyuubi's chakra inside of him. Judging by the level, he must in the same state that I was on that day, but luckily he didn't see my eyes at all."

Kakashi and Zabuza stopped fighting to survey this new situation. _"This chakra…this isn't Zabuza, it's evil and familiar…oh no, Naruto! Has the seal been broken?"_

"_This chakra fills me with dread, is it Kakashi's doing? No, it's much bigger than…" _Zabuza stopped his train of thought to avoid a swipe, "You!"

"You are taking too damn long with this, if Kakashi ain't going to finish, I may as well do it for him." Ishide said, brandishing his sword. "Well, aren't you the cocky one, bring it, brat! I was starting to get bored with playing hide and seek with Kakashi anyway…let's dance!"

"After you!"

The two of them clashed against each other at the same time, each of them providing dangerous blows to the other Ishide ducked under Zabuza's swing and slashed at Zabuza's kneed, but the Jonin stepped back only for the Uzumaki's sword to nick his camouflage leg warmers.

"You're good, but you have a long way to go with keeping up with me."

"What can I say? I had a lot of practice…two years to be exact, plus the Kage Bunshin is a perfect tool to use for training over three months."

Zabuza said, "True, but you can't make that many."

"Actually on a good day…I can make about six hundred clones at a time."

Zabuza's eyes widened a bit, _"If he can make that many clones and his brother uses it more often than him, then they would be unstoppable."_ Ishide moved before the shinobi swordsman and swing his blade only to be blocked by the flat of Zabuza's blade.

The Jonin punched Ishide in the face, disorientating the boy, giving Zabuza enough time to slash at Ishide. The Uzumaki rolled backwards, allowing the executioner's blade to slam into the concrete and then he ran up the edge to step on Zabuza's face and slashed at his back.

Zabuza groaned in pain as he let go of the sword to clutch at the wound, but then he tried to go back. Ishide immediately went to the offensive, making Zabuza get further and further away from his sword. _"Damn that brat, he is not allowing to get near my sword at all and I can't make any water clones. Haku, you better hurry up, damn it!"_

Unfortunately, Haku was in a predicament of her own, currently she was in a face-off with a demon-possessed Naruto. _"W-What in the world is he?"_ she thought. Naruto looked at Haku with his blood-red slitted eyes and tensed up to spring at the mirror in front of him.

"_He's going to attack!" _

Naruto charged to attack just as Haku deployed senbon at him, but the boy gave out a huge roar, deflecting them. She then disappeared in a different mirror that was above him, making Naruto stop and search for his adversary.

"_He deflected them…without even touching them."_ She thought to herself. She made herself appear in all of her mirrors and then threw senbon at Naruto. Naruto crouched down a bit and blasted away as well as the illusions to reveal that Haku was actually behind him instead.

The possessed boy ran at the mirror and crushed it with his fist. The pieces went flying around him and Haku appeared out of one of them, but Naruto seemed to sense that she was coming. He slammed his fist into the ground and flipped himself in the air sideways out of harm's way.

Haku got up from the ground and thought desperately, _"I have to get to the next mirror!" _She made a break for it, but she was yanked back abruptly. Haku turned to see that Naruto had a firm grip on her forearm, _"He couldn't have!"_

Naruto roared at her, expelling chakra during the process. The faux hunter Nin attempted to block his malevolent chakra, but it proved to be too strong for her to hold back. Naruto tightened his grip, making her gasp in pain and then clenched his free hand into a fist, glowing with the Kyuubi's chakra.

The ice mirrors' cracks deepened further under the pressure of Naruto's chakra and he drew back his fist to give Haku a straight punch to her mask. The 14-year-old girl was sent flying through one of her mirrors and in the air, then sailed to the ground, rolling a few times until she came to a complete stop.

The ice mirrors crumbled into pieces as Naruto stood growling, it would have been a majestic sight if Naruto was going to kill someone at the moment. Haku struggled to stand on her feet just as a huge crack appeared in the middle of her mask.

Naruto realized that she was still alive, making himself charge at her once again. As he moved, Haku thought to herself, _"Zabuza-sama…I'm finished…"_Naruto moved closer and closer just as half of her mask slid off of her face.

Suddenly he punched her in the face again and rose again just as he saw it, he stopped and spoke, "Damn it, Haku…."

"Why did you stop? I killed your comrade and yet you still spare me."

"Damn it!" He punched her again, "Why him? Why did it have to be Zabuza?"

"Because he saved me, Naruto-kun. Back in Kiri, the Mizukage became fearful of people who possessed bloodlines and ordered a purge. My mother was able to hide it from my father until I was seven, then he killed her in front of my eyes and when I released my power, I kill him and the mob that was behind him. For two years, I wandered, scavenging for food until Zabuza took me in."

Naruto noticed that there were tears in her eyes as she continued, "I was so happy, he was not afraid of my bloodline. He cherished it, wanted it. I wasn't alone anymore…." Then she thought, _"But now I am a broken tool, I have failed you…Zabuza-sama."_

"Naruto…please kill me."

Meanwhile Zabuza was able to get his Kubikiri Hocho back, but not without receiving injuries, courtesy of Ishide. "Standoff…one last move…"Ishide suggested.

"Fine by me…kid."

Zabuza hefted his sword, the point directly in front of him and Ishide crouched down a bit and held Hakureisaiga with the blade side held up to the sky and over his shoulder, focusing his chakra. The Uzumaki slowly breathed in and out, closing his eyes as he slowly traveled to a serene state of mind.

All was silent as the two swordsmen stood against each other and the waves crashed against the reef and the bridge. Zabuza got impatient and moved toward Ishide, whose eyes snapped open as he shouted, "**Hakuren no Mai!**"

The Uzumaki slashed at Zabuza once, then multiple slashes appeared on the Jonin's arms and chest, making Zabuza drop on his knees. "What?" he said in disbelief.

"Dance of the White Lotus…my own technique with that one slash, it sends invisible blades of chakra at two second intervals, explaining the cuts on your arms and chest." Ishide explained.

The ex-Jonin chuckled, "That is very well thought out, kid. Did Kakashi teach you that?"

"No, people have been trying to hinder me and my brother since we could run. I wouldn't be surprised if Kakashi didn't teach me shit at all, everything that I have learned was from my mentor and doing my own training in my spare time."

Zabuza said, "If I was only near Konoha, you could have been great at my side."

"Maybe…maybe not."

"What happened to Kakashi?"

"Oh, him? I put him in a ten-layer genjutsu to deal with him, so he wouldn't interrupt…he should be getting out now." The two of them heard footsteps coming towards their position to reveal Ishide. "Ishide, how did you…"

"Took you long enough…the hell you been?"

"Dispelling genjutsu, I never knew that Zabuza had that capability."

"I hardly ever use it unless I am trying to escape the hunter Nin, but in this case, I wanted to battle the kid."

"Well, it is obviously over now."

Zabuza chuckled, "You said that last time and look what happened."

Ishide said as he raised his sword, "Nevertheless, it is finished…"He swung it down at his neck only to stop seeing Haku was in front of Zabuza and her neck was bleeding a bit. "You must be Haku….I take it that Naruto had defeated you."

"I will not let you kill Zabuza-sama. Although I am a broken tool, I will gladly give my life for him."

Ishide lowered his sword, "Then let me provide you with a new purpose, both of your lives belong to me due to the fact that I could have killed you both….you and your master will come to Konoha with us under the code of the Momochi."

"How do you know about that?"

"Research….this benefits you all. For starters, the Kiri Hunter Corps will stop looking for you if you are registered to Konoha; also the reason why Gato hires nukenin is because they are cheaper and easier to dispose of. He is going to cheat you out of your money. With more money, you can save up to do another raid on the Mizukage's life with a faction of our ninja for an alliance."

Zabuza thought about it for a moment as Ishide added, "Besides you don't want Haku to die here and don't say that you don't care about her at all because I can see it in your eyes that you do care about her like a daughter."

"Fine, brat, you win…we will join your ranks, I swear on the code of the Momochi that I will serve you."

"Good, now pick up your sword, Zabuza because your former employer is coming with a boat full of thugs."

Kakashi asked, "How do you know about that?"

"My hidden Kage Bunshin dispelled itself as it saw the boat coming." Suddenly there was a loud wail was heard at the end of the bridge and Ishide said, "And that would be Sakura coming on Sasuke's dead body…you put him in the death state, didn't you?"

"Yes…how did you know?"

"You don't seem to be the type of person who can't kill without your conscience."

Kakashi said, "Let's go…they are here."

As the Konoha Jonin predicted, the guest of honor along with the huge crowd of thugs appeared. "So you have been defeated, Zabuza." Gato said with a sneer. Zabuza replied with a scowl, "No, merely a change in plans."

Naruto reached their location and Ishide said, "Naruto, can you fight?"

"No, Haku's senbon has worn me down…so I don't think that I will be able to make enough clones to match them without getting exhausted."

"Fine, then…I will handle the clones, you stay with Haku…both of you should have enough energy to fight the strays if they passed us."

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Kakashi asked.

"I have killed before, Kakashi-sensei and yes, I am sure….besides Gato has pissed me off and I don't like jackasses breathing the same air as me. First one to reach Gato wins…"

Zabuza hefted Kubikiri Bocho, "You are a sadistic little bastard…I am game, considering that you chipped my sword a bit and I need some of their blood to restore it."

Ishide looked at him in surprise, "I see, so that is why your group is feared….because of not only your skills, but your swords' abilities…interesting." Kakashi took out two kunai and put them in a reverse grip.

Gato shouted, "Well…what are you waiting for? Kill them! Kill them all!"

"Pussy…"Ishide muttered, _"Oi, Nekoshi, lend me some chakra, will ya?"_

"**Got ya," **

Suddenly Ishide felt energized and his blue-green eyes darkened slightly. "Let's welcome chaos…"Zabuza said as the three men charged at the group. The auras of Kakashi, Ishide and Zabuza manifested as a white, snarling wolf, a fox with a devilish smirk and a devil's face contorting in a mask of rage, scaring the thugs.

Zabuza cleaved through his enemies while Ishide and Kakashi slashed and stabbed at the thugs. Cries of agony sang out in the air and Haku hid her face in Naruto's chest as she couldn't stomach the cries and the sight of pure slaughter.

In Ishide's mindscape, a crack appeared in a sealed caged doorway…however it was not Nekoshi's cage, but the cage held something far more sinister that Ishide had a hard time with….the dark side of himself. Six years ago, Naruto as the old brother would protect Ishide from the hardships especially the beatings by sending him ahead, on March 10, everything changed….Ishide was captured and forced to watch Naruto beaten until he became consumed with hate and rage.

That was the first time that Ishide had encountered Nekoshi's power, but his hatred was so great that it manifested a darker side, a darker personality that was meant for one purpose only…to kill sadistically without remorse.

The younger Uzumaki, subjugated in his anger, slaughtered the villagers brutally as well as some of the ninja that were ordered by the Sandaime to stop. Eventually Ishide killed a person that he cared about and accidently hit Naruto, making the boy pause for a moment and a young ANBU named Itachi Uchiha knocked him out.

When Ishide woke up, he requested the Sandaime to seal it away and as well as alert Naruto's memories of the encounter to pass it off as he was suffered from multiple personality disorder. He also had asked Itachi to train him his emotion training, making sure that he would never lose his emotions ever again, but his control would slip now and then…especially when it came to his brother.

As the thugs ran, crawled and limped away from the three ninja, Gato himself tried to run only for Kakashi's kunai to be embedded in his leg and back. "Nice shot…" Ishide commented.

"Thank you…"

Gato tried to crawl away and Ishide walked in front of Gato to slam his point into the ground inches from his face. "Your account numbers, location of safes and stocks please…oh, and if you don't do this in the next twenty seconds, your head will not be on your shoulders for much longer."

The tyrant, in fear, practically slipped his guts out about everything as Ishide memorized them. "Good, now you are free to crawl away, I promise that me or Kakashi will not kill you…now run or should I say crawl along."

Gato crawled away faster than before as he reached the end of the bridge, Zabuza threw Kubikiri Hocho and it impaled Gato in the chest. "Well, I did say that me and Kakashi would let you live, but not Zabuza…in the end, I kept my word. Rest in hell, Gato…"

Zabuza took up his sword, which still had Gato on it and Kakashi looked at it, "You are going to throw that away, right?" Zabuza looked at it and swung his sword to throw it on the boat while Kakashi used Suiton and Doton jutsu to fix up the bridge a bit.

Soon Sakura notified Naruto that Sasuke was alive, making him cry tears of joy, she was also surprised and a bit wary of Haku, who was in Naruto's arms. The two sprang apart quickly as they both blushed heavily and it gave Ishide blackmail material for a while.

Sasuke was in the same boat, but eventually he got over it.

**Bridge- A week later-** Tazuna said, "Thanks to you, our bridge has finally been completed, but it is going to be dull around here once you're gone." Zabuza said, "Old man, just so you know, there are no hard feeling between us, right?"

Tazuna nodded and Inari mumbled, "You better…aw."

"Don't cry, Inari…we will be back soon eventually." Ishide said.

Naruto piped up, "It's okay to cry when you are really happy."

"I am not crying, but if you want to cry, you can cry, nii-san. G-Go ahead." The boy shouted.

Naruto turned away, "Me? No way, see ya…" When the team was at a great distance, both Naruto and Inari began to shed tears while Ishide shook his head. Tazuna smiled, "Those boys have touched Inari's heart and in turn, touched the heart of our village. They, along with their friends built the bridge that will eventually carry us all to hop and courage…and speaking of bridges, we still have to officially dedicate this one and the only one name that will fit."

"What is the name, tou-san?" Tsunami asked.

The old man smiled to himself and said, "How about…the great Uzumaki Bridge."

"That is a good name, but why?"

"It's simple, this name will ensure that it will stand forever, our bridge will become famous all over the world as a symbol of triumph and endurance, that is what I hope and hopefully that is how it will be."


	4. The Arrival of the Exams

**Chapter 4-The Arrival of the Exams**

"Finally we are back in Konoha!" Naruto shouted. Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke passed through the gates, but as soon as Zabuza and Haku, along with Ishide appeared, a team of ANBU appeared, surrounding the two of them.

Ishide instantly reacted by walking in between them and spread his arms wide in a protecting matter. "Step aside, Uzumaki…Zabuza Momochi will be in custody of us."

"And I have matters with the Hokage concerning these two." Ishide said sternly, "They are no threat to this village at all and they are not spies for their former hidden village, so how about you step aside and go protect some of those old farts on the council or something?"

The ANBU leader said, "Do not force this, Uzumaki…"

"Ah, hello, Tora…long time no see, how did you like those pictures I released?"

The leader identified as Tora tensed up for a moment and Ishide smirked, "Thought so…your business with them is not authorized by the Hokage, so your so-called business will have to wait a bit. You can escort us if you life, but this matter comes first."

"Fine…but we will be keeping an eye on you."

"Whatever, to me, you are nothing but a kitten following orders from a tomcat."

They walked toward the Hokage's office where the rest of Team Seven was waiting. "Well, Zabuza Momochi and I presume that this is your apprentice, Haku as I heard from Kakashi-san." The Hokage said with a neutral tone, "May I ask why you are here?"

"I came to Konoha partially for asylum and I am bound by the rules of the Momochi clan by this boy."

"How do we know that you will not perform a coup de etat here?"

"I don't want to…besides I think this kid would kill me first before that happens, Ishide speaks very highly about you. Let us live here and prove ourselves…"

The Hokage stroked his beard for a moment and then said, "Fine, I can trust Ishide's judgment to you two in line considering that you are bound to him by his request. You both will be on a probationary period of three months and when it is over, officially you will be given the rank of Jonin and as Haku will be a Chunin."

The two ex-Mist ninja nodded and Sarutobi continued, "Also your quarters will be the apartment complex that Naruto and Ishide live in…and you will not be interrogated considering Kiri is in the process of a civil war, so your information that you have would be useless. Is there anything else that I should know?"

Zabuza shook his head, "No, Hokage-sama…"

"Very well, Team Seven, Zabuza, Haku, you all are dismissed and given leave for a week. You have earned it…"

All the genin and the ex-Mist ninjas bowed and left the room while Kakashi stayed behind. "What is it that you need, Hokage-sama?" the Jonin said. "Is there anything that I should know about that happened on the mission?" the Hokage asked.

"Actually there is….when we fought Zabuza for the last time, Ishide stuck me in a ten-layer genjutsu just to fight Zabuza and win. By the skills that he is showing, he may be about on par with a Chunin…also the Uzumaki twins showed perfect teamwork and Ishide killed one of the opposing ninja without remorse."

Sarutobi said, "Is that all?"

"No, Naruto has tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra somehow during his fight with Haku-san. The seal has not been broken, but a sliver of its chakra has broken out."

"Well, his father meant for him to harness it, but I believe that he is too young to have access to that power properly…I will send for Jiraiya as soon as possible after this meeting. Also I need you to keep watch on Ishide very closely…"

"Hmm, why do you say that, Hokage-sama?"

"On the night when you gave your team their test and passed them, a mysterious person going by the alias of 'Kurorei' infiltrated the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility and brutally killed the man by cutting open his stomach and hanging him with his own intestines. Mizuki's blood was used as his mark and it is implying that he uses two khopeshs as his primary weapons. Iruka mentioned that Ishide was planning to kill him."

"So he is the primary suspect of all this?"

"Yes, we have no actual proof that he did it or when he will strike again, so it is best to be on our guard to protect this village because we don't know that his intentions will benefit us or hinder us…and something in the back of my mind is telling me that it will hinder us greatly."

The Uzumakis showed Zabuza and Haku their rooms and got them settled in, which particularly was not hard considering they had next to nothing except the bunny and Zabuza's legendary sword."Well, that should be it, now I got to go to the weapon shop to re-supply."

Haku said, "I will join you…"

"Sure."

The two walked away, leaving Naruto and Zabuza alone. They looked at each other for a moment and Naruto said, "Soooo…how is Konoha so far?" Zabuza said, "It is fine, new scenery…I am just used to my village being dreary and piss-poor looking."

"Was it that bad in Kirigakure?"

"Yeah, during the fourth year of the Yondaime Mizukage's reign, he started to change completely. All of a sudden, he began to be extremely paranoid after the fact that the Kaguya clan attacked the village to satisfy their lust for battle. After that, the Mizukage ordered a hit out on all the bloodline users in our village, I wanted to take the position for myself…but he was too strong for me to handle, it was like he had someone helping him fight. He was a Jinchuuriki…much like you."

"What? How do you…"

"There is only one demon that had actually attacked Konoha and that was the Kyuubi. Back on the bridge, you used that power to defeat Haku."

"I was angry…I had thought that she killed Sasuke."

"So that is the trigger….when your emotions are at a high state, the seal draws out the Kyuubi's power…interesting."

"I hate it…this power, it has caused me nothing but trouble for my brother and I. Sometimes I wonder why did the Fourth choose me?"

"I don't know the answer to that, kid, but if it was a different person that got that monster sealed within them, I don't believe that they would have survived like you have. The Fourth must have known that you were something special…"

"Maybe…"

**Ishide and Haku-** "Oi, Senzuki-san! Are you there?" Ishide shouted. Haku looked around to see that the walls were decorated with weapons and accessible gear. "Hello, may I help…Ishide-san, is that you?" a feminine voice said.

Haku and Ishide turned to see a girl with two small buns in her hair, wearing a pink Chinese shirt and green pants. "Hey, Tenten, how is it going? I have not seen you in a while." Ishide replied, then he gestured to Haku, "This is my friend, Haku Momochi, she is new in town."

Tenten held out her hand and smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Haku-san."

Haku took the hand and returned the gesture, "Likewise, Tenten-san."

Then the Weapon Mistress turned to her old friend, "So what brings you here to my uncle's shop and how have you been with your kenjutsu?" Ishide replied, "I need a scabbard for my personal sword…" He summoned it to his hand, "Her name is Hakureisaiga."

Tenten said, "I will see what I can do."

"Thanks."

Tenten went in the back in search for the scabbard and Haku piped up, "She is cute, isn't she?"

"What? Huh?" Ishide said, caught off guard.

"I said that she is cute, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is…"

"Do you like her…like that?"

"Huh? No, no, no…we just have a friendship and that is it."

"Maybe in the near future, that will change."

"I highly doubt that is going to happen, Haku…although, as for you and Naruto, I couldn't say the same."

Haku blushed, "W-What are you talking about?"

"I noticed that you were stealing glimpses of Naruto a few times when we were travelling…and I approve."

"D-Don't say false things."

"Actually I don't think it is false, somewhere inside…you admired him a lot, making that the foundation of your…attachment. Personally, I think that you are a better match for him than Sakura and from what your life story that you shared with me, all three of us could understand the pain of loneliness a bit."

Just then Tenten walked back to them, "Here you go, Ishide, there is your scabbard."

"Thanks, Tenten."

"Excuse me, but what are those?"

Tenten turned to what Haku was pointing at and took it down, it was a specialized holster pack and she answered, "These are senbon holsters, they hold up to thirty senbons each. Also if you want, we can give you the ones with the seals on them to return your senbon back to the pack after you throw them."

Haku's eyes lit up and she turned to Ishide, who smiled and rolled his eyes, "Alright, I will buy them…but only because you have no money, take two." Haku giggled a bit and took two of them from the rack, both of them with the seals already prescribed on them.

"How much, Tenten?"

"With your discount, it will be 3590 yen in total."

The secret Jinchuuriki took out his wallet and gave her the money, when their hands touched, there was a bit of a spark between them and Tenten said with a light blush on her face, "Thank you for your business, Ishide…"

"Yeah, I will see you soon…I guess."

**Night-** Kurorei was on the move once again and this time, he was going higher up the food chain. He crouched in ninja spire style on a pole, watching his target move within her home. The mysterious assassin scowled at the security around her home, "This is not going to be easy…heh, but it will be fun as hell though."

The assassin leaped on the rooftop of his target's neighboring house and looked over the edge to see two men standing guard in front of the side door. Kurorei took a rock and tossed it over to the side, alerting one of the guards.

"What was that?" One of them said as he went over to check it out. The other stayed put with his body tensed up to any hostile malefactors. Kurorei silently jumped down behind the man and stabbed him in the kidney with his mouth covered up.

He propped up against the wall and hid in the bushes as the second guard came up. "Maybe it was a rat or something, Takashi…I have no idea why Mai-sama is being so paranoid for. Whoever this Kurorei character is, I bet that he is just a spineless coward."

"A coward, am I?"

"Yes, a spineless coward…I…"

The guard stopped speaking to slowly turn to see Kurorei's glowing eyes and he raised his voice to scream out, but not a sound came out…partly due to Kurorei's quick move to slice his throat, severing his vocal cords.

"You know that is all bullshit and everything…ninja are supposed to hide in the shadows, unseen." Kurorei said to the deceased guard, "Now on to Mai Tamaki…right now, she should be taking a shower at this time."

He took out one of his knives and pried open one of the windows to let himself inside. Then he whistled as he saw that a horde of guards waiting for him and said, "Aww, Mai-chan gave me a present…I will be returning the favor…by taking her life."

The assassin placed a seal on the house and then he drew his signature weapons and said, "Chaos welcomes you…" Kurorei set to work by killing all of the guards in the vicinity and the best part of all this is that no one would be able to hear their screams courtesy of the seal that he placed on the wall earlier.

Soon there was dead bodies and blood everywhere, the assassin flicked the blood of the sickle swords and sheathed on his back as he strode upstairs silently to the bathroom, where Mai Tamaki was bathing. Mai Tamaki is the councilwoman, who was married to a merchant that controls most of the food department vendors.

Mysteriously, her husband fell ill and died in his sleep possibly from his lung cancer, but on the black market, rumors has it that Mai hired an doctor to poison his tobacco when he smoked every evening before he went to bed.

Then Mai took over her husband's job and everything that she wanted, she got. Resistance was futile in her case considering most of them ended up poisoned or drowned in the river…all at the age of forty-three.

She also hated Ishide and Naruto Uzumaki because her only daughter, Mika was lost in the battle against the Kyuubi, thus she had more of a vendetta against Naruto than Ishide.

Kurorei opened the door silently and Mai said with her eyes closed, "Ah, good, you are here… can you please massage my shoulders for me." Kurorei smirked at this and went behind her to massage her shoulders, getting the kinks out of her body.

Mai quietly moaned a bit as she said, "You have gotten better, Daisuke…have you been taking lessons from your master again? I thought you hated him…" Kurorei whispered hoarsely, "That is because…I am not Daisuke, Mai Tamaki."

Her eyes snapped open and she screamed out loud, but the black-clad assassin knocked her out. "Damn, next time….I have to remind myself to get ear plugs. Her fucking screaming is on par with Haruno's own…" He took out ninja wire and tied up her naked body to prevent her from escaping, not like she could because she had absolutely no ninja training at all.

Mai stirred as Kurorei turned on the shower head to wake her up, "Ah, Tamaki-san, you are awake…good, we have much to discuss."

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house? Guards? Guards!"

"First of all, you know who am I, but since you asked so nicely…my name is Kurorei and I am here to assassinate you, Mai Tamaki. As for your guards, let's just say that your stomach would be losing everything you ate for the last two days to get my point across."

"What do you want?"

"There are a lot of things that I want in life and I don't have the means or desire to tell you any of them as of this moment. Your life is in my hands now…" He pointed upwards and Mai looked up to see an old heater dangling above the bathtub that she was in.

"And if you don't give me the correct answers, well…let's just say that you will receive a shocking experience of your life and it will be the last one that you will ever have as well."

"Fine, I'll talk! I'll talk! What the fuck do you want from me?"

"Tell me what do you know of Ishide Uzumaki?"

"The Kyuubi's brother?"

Kurorei frowned and let the string that was holding the heater away from the water down and Mai gulped, "I mean Naruto-san's brother…n-nothing that is special about him, he is just very quiet and reserved much like the Uchiha. He trains every day and hardly talks to anyone but the Hokage, his brother and some of the ninja."

"Do you know where he trains at?"

"N-No…but one of my colleagues does, his name is Kyoya Shitsuki, he lives next to the apartment of the Uzumakis that is all….why are you so interesting in them?"

"No, not them, just Ishide Uzumaki….he seems to have a lot of potential within him, one that I can harness and use against this god-forsaken village. His brother, on the other hand, I believe that he has been brainwashed by the Hokage's idealism and therefore if push comes to shove, I will kill him."

Mai smirked, "Then by all means, kill the little wretch. He won't be missed and I can help you there."

The assassin smiled, "Alright, Mai…I will let you help me and you have answered my questions already." He took out a kunai and cut her bonds, then lifted her out of the bathtub. She rubbed her aching wrists and ankles as she asked, "Did you have to be so rough?"

"It is how I was brought up, plus you should be used to it since you love being gangbanged by your servants."

Mai blushed and turned away from the yellow-eyed assassin, "C-Come on, we can go over our plans to be rid of the older Uzumaki." The woman led the man to her room where she had chilled wine in a mini refrigerator.

"So are you going to do to get Uzumaki in your grasp?"

"The best way to get to the younger Uzumaki is to release the monster within him."

"That boy has a demon too?"

"No, not exactly…that boy had the Hokage seal away his inner darkness. It went on a rampage against several ninja and civilians that attacked his older brother in front of him until he accidently hurt two people that he cared about, making the monster be subdued by a young man named Itachi Uchiha."

"So how are you going to control him?"

"By taking control of the thing he loves most…his brother. Once I control him with this seal, I will be able to destroy the people that killed my family…"

Kurorei drank the wine and Mai smirked, "I am afraid that your plan will not be happened, Kurorei-san. You see, that wine you drank is actually poisoned, I put a stronger dose of it in it…"

"What?"

"You are the walking dead, soon I can report my findings to Danzo-san and he will reward me as his queen by his side."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Tamaki-san…but did you think that I wouldn't be prepared for your little poison spell."

"You see, the one thing that I learned is check your surroundings. I look to see that you had your poison in them, so I poisoned the wine bottle…but on the other hand, I have immunity to poison due to my kekkai genkai while you…"

Mai coughed up blood and began to shudder as Kurorei loomed over her, "You have nothing at all to protect yourself…goodbye, Mai Tamaki….I pray that I will never see you again anytime soon." With that, he left the premises as he heard a voice, "You are so lucky that I can remove poison…that was a gamble, my friend, do not try that again."

"Of course, my lady, whatever you say…"

A month had passed and Naruto, along with his team just finished yet another mission…a boring D-Rank mission. Tension grew a bit between Sasuke and Naruto due to their rivalry and the Uchiha thought, _"Damn it, there are guys out there who could challenge me, but I am stuck on these stupid missions."_

While the Genin were lost in their thoughts, Kakashi looked up to see a hawk circling about in the air. He said, "Okay, that is it for today, we'll call it a day right now. I've gotta go in and report today's mission. 

Sasuke turned away and said, "Well, then I am going to go train!" Sakura left to follow him, leaving Ishide and Naruto. As the twins went home, they realized that they are being followed by a strange looking rock.

"Konohamaru! That is the worst-looking disguise ever!" Naruto shouted.

The 'rock' overturned to reveal Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi. The Sandaime's grandson replied, "Leave it to the men I have acknowledged as being almost my equal. Your skills rival my own." Naruto put his arms on his head, "Uhhh….what is with the goggles?"

Konohamaru said proudly, "Hehe, you are our idol, right? We are copying the style that you used to wear." Ishide replied, "Okay, Naruto, who the hell are these kids?"

Naruto said, "This is Konohamaru, the Sandaime's grandson…and his friends, Moegi and Udon. I met him when the old man was trying to make me change my picture. His trainer was pissing me off with his shortcut to Hokage crap, so I used the Orioke no Jutsu to knock him out and it worked because he is a closet pervert."

"Alright…"

Moegi spoke up, "We want you to play ninja with us!"

"Well…" Ishide said, "That prompts me to leave you with your problem, have fun…see you later."

Naruto rubbed his head as he turned to see three pouting faces, "Heh…oh yeah…was that today?" Then the container thought, _"Damn it, if I play with them a little, they will waste the whole day!"_ Sakura walked up with her head down, "So…just what is a ninja doing playing ninja anyway?" she asked.

"Who I am to talk? I am the weakest person here…"

"But you are taking your training with Ishide and going far with it, are you?" Naruto asked. Konohamaru asked, "Oi, Naruto, is she your girlfriend?" Naruto rubbed his head, "Heheh, you guys catch on pretty quick…"

"Wrong!"

Naruto crashed into a nearby wooden fence and Konohamaru turned to this pissed girl, "What was that for? You total witch!" The young boy regretted his decision and paled as the girl cracked her knuckles as Inner Sakura said, "Lemme at him!"

**Building-** Iruka said, "Thanks for your latest report, Kakashi-sama. How are our little hellions? Do they get along with the other members especially Ishide?"

Kakashi said uneasily, "Well…somewhat."

"Your team has seen a lot of action lately and since Naruto and Ishide hasn't had time to get with me once, I can't help but worry!" Kakashi replied, "Well, you know how it is, Iruka. Sasuke is in our squad, so the competition between those three keeping them or their toes."

"Really?" Iruka smiled.

**Naruto and Sakura-** Sakura stomped off, leaving Naruto and Konohamaru on the ground. Udon asked, "Konohamaru, are you all right?" The boy replied, "Oww…jeez…that broad-browed, fire-breathing hag! Is she even a girl?"

Sakura stopped and began to chase Naruto and the gang. Suddenly Konohamaru ran into something hard and crashed to the ground. He looked up to see a girl with a huge fan on her back and a boy with strange purple markings on his face with something covered with bandages strapped to his back.

The boy leaned forward and lifted Konohamaru by the scruff of his neck, "That hurt, snotface!" The girl rolled her eyes, "Knock it off, Kankuro! You are gonna get it as it is!" Then Sakura said softly, "It was my fault, I was fooling around. Gomen nasai…" Then she thought as she stared at them, "Who are these people?"

Naruto shouted, "Put him down, you big ape!" The boy, holding Konohamaru, looked at Naruto's headband and thought, _"These guys must be genin from Konoha!"_ Kankuro tightened his grip on Konohamaru, "I just want to play with him a little…since we're waiting for hat nuisance to arrive!"

Naruto charged, "You son of a…"

The sand ninja took his fingers and wiggled them, after that, something made Naruto fall on his back. The Kyuubi container thought in shock, _"What the heck was that?"_

"Nice trick!" a familiar voice came from behind the foreigners. They looked to see Ishide walking toward them as he continued, "I never expected to see a puppet master here and judging the thing on your back is your puppet."

"_He analyzed me with just a look at my demonstration with his brother?" _Kankuro paled in thought.

Ishide frowned, "Now I must ask you to put the boy now." The puppet master frowned, "First off, I am allergic to shrimp, so it's bad enough that you are short…you are disrespecting your elders! You make me wanna kill him!" Konohamaru gasped for air as Kankuro's grip tightened.

"Fine, I am not involved in any of this, okay?" The girl said. Kankuro crackled his knuckles into a fist, "So I'll finish with this tiny shrimp…and move to the main course." Ishide said, "Drop him or you will face dire consequences."

Kankuro smirked and swung at Konohamaru, there was a sudden crack. Ishide grabbed Konohamaru and jumped over to Naruto and company. "Nice job, Sasuke!" Ishide said, looking up in the tree.

"Thanks!" Sasuke replied, "So…tell me, what are you guys doing in our village?" He bounced a couple of stones in his hand. Sakura squealed, "Sasuke!" Kankuro glared at the Uchiha as he clutched his arm while his teammate blushed as she thought, "Well, well, well…hottie alert!"

**Hokage's Office-** "Now then…" The Third said, "We would like to hear first from those who have overseen the training of our newest junior ninja." Kakashi and two others stepped forward to meet the Hokage's challenge. "Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma, tell us…do any of you have, among your squads, any genin that you recommend for this year's Chunin Exams? They must have completed at least eight missions and beyond that, employ your judgment as to whether they are ready to rise to the next level."

In the back where other ninjas were at was Iruka. The Chunin thought, _"He shouldn't be asking this yet…it's too soon for all of them."_ The old Hokage nodded to Kakashi, "You may begin, Kakashi!"

The Jonin spoke clearly, "Team Seven consists of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Ishide Uzumaki. I recommend all four of them for the Chunin Exams." Iruka said quietly in shock, "What?"

Kurenai spoke up, "Team Eight consists of Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame along with our newest member, Haku Momochi. Like my colleague, I recommend all four ready for this exam."

Asuma said, "Team Ten consists of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. I recommend all three for the Chunin Exams!"

The Third replied in a puzzled tone, "How unusual for all three of you to have said yes so quickly!"

Iruka stammered, "J-Just a moment…"

Hiruzen looked up to the Chunin and said, "Yes, Iruka?"

The Chunin pleaded, "Lord Hokage! Please allow me to speak! Forgive me if I have overstepped my boundaries, but most of the students mentioned used to be my students at the Academy. Of course, all of them are gifted and show both commitment and talent, but it's too early for them to become Chunin, only time will show their experience and maturity those exams require. I don't see why their teachers can't see that factor as well."

Kakashi turned to Iruka as he said, "I was six years younger than Naruto when I became a Chunin, Iruka."

Iruka sputtered in indignation, "They are not like you, Kakashi-san! You all know what they call the exams, don't you? Do you want to destroy these children?"

"Don't act like they have not facing hardships earlier in their life, you of all people should know this very well. The only person that I am worried about is just Sakura. Besides they have complained on every mission they went on. Just for once, I think it would do them good to find out the true challenges that a ninja will face." Kakashi said calmly.

"Are you insane?"

"Legally, yes…just like everyone else in this village. The main point is I understand your intentions on protecting your students and I am sorry if my recommendation upsets you, but I stand by my decision."

"But…"

Kurenai sighed, "Kakashi, can you finish this please?"

Kakashi nodded and turned, "Iruka, you need to realize that they are your former students and now my soldiers under my command, not yours…." The Hokage said nothing on the matter and looked on in silence.

Back to our Genin, Kankuro sneered as he clutched his wrist, "Oh, look, another little shrimp." Sasuke replied coolly, "Get lost, you peasant…"

Moegi and Sakura squealed in unison, "He is so cool..."

Kankuro retorted, "Come down, you little squirrel. You think that you are pretty smart, huh?" He took off the package that contained the puppet off his back. The girl beside him shouted, "Don't tell me that you are not planning to use Karasu."

"So I am right, you are a puppet user…well, there are two things wrong with this picture."

"Oh?"

"One, the four of them together will be able to kick both of your asses and second, I believe that your friend up there doesn't approve of your decision, considering he looks and feels pissed." Ishide said as he pointed in the tree that Sasuke was in.

A voice called out, causing Sasuke to jump in surprise, "Kankuro! Temari! Cut it out, you two are a disgrace to our entire village." Beads of sweat appeared on Kankuro's face as he said the boy's name, "G-Gaara…"

Sasuke looked at the boy with the gourd on his back, _"He…He snuck up behind me…I didn't have a clue! His stealth skills rivals Kakashi's own, but…how was Ishide able to detect him."_ The Uchiha thought to himself.

Gaara spoke with authority, "It annoys me that you would lose control in a quarrel with mere children. Have you forgotten why we came here?"

Kankuro whined, "But Gaara…they started it, the small one slammed into me and…"

"Shut up or I will kill you."

The young puppet master felt a shiver run down his pine as he caught Gaara's glare, "You're right, I was out of line." Temari jumped in, "We are sorry…okay, Gaara?" Sasuke thought, _"The tables have turned, judging by their fear, this guy must be the one in charge…that and he glares like a basilisk_."

Gaara turned to the Uchiha, "Sorry about my friends." He started to do his signature Suna Shunshin as he thought, "_This is the one who nailed Kankuro with a stone…that took skill…and that other one."_ He looked at Ishide, _"How did he detect me?"_

Gaara appeared beside his comrades a second later and said, "I know that we are a little early, but we didn't come here to play around." Kankuro replied quickly, "I promise that it won't happen again!" Gaara ignored his promise and turned around as he said, "Let's go…"

"Wait!" Sakura shouted.

"Yes?" answered Gaara.

"According to your headbands, you are from the Hidden Sand Village. Your country is one of our allies, but the treaty clearly states that your ninja aren't permitted to cross the border without our consent. State your business; we can't just let you go on your merry way." Sakura replied.

"It's okay, Sakura…these three are here for the Chunin Exams, am I correct?" Ishide said.

Temari smirked, "Well, at least one of you is smart."

Ishide smirked and gave the girl a mock bow, "I aim to please beautiful woman…"

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki asked, "What is the Chunin Exam?"

Temari answered, "Genin are sent from other Hidden Villages to compete against other Genin from neighboring countries. It is mainly to maintain the skill of nay ninja at the same high level of excellence and also maintain balance between the lands and foster friendship along with understanding between ninja."

Sasuke jumped down and asked, "Hey, you there! What is your name?"

Temari blushed madly, "Who? Me?"

"No, the spook beside you."

Gaara replied, "I am Gaara of the Desert…and you are…"

"Uchiha Sasuke." The raven-haired boy said with a smirk. Gaara looked at the twins and said, "You two as well…"

"Uzumaki Ishide."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Ishide looked at Gaara's teammates, "Kankuro….Temari, I will remember those names. Looks like we will be seeing you three around very soon." Gaara replied, "Perhaps, Uzumaki-san, perhaps." With that, the three left and Sasuke said, "Finally something interesting…"

"_Looks like Mr. One has come out to play, Nekoshi…"_ Ishide thought to himself.

As the ninja were lost in their own thoughts, they didn't notice that they were being watched. "So…what do you think?" The skinny boy asked his teammate, covered in bandages. "None of them are important except the Uchiha kid, but those Uzumaki kids and that Sand guy…keep your eye on them."

**Forest-** "Hey, hey, hey, did you hear?" A boy with big eyebrows, buggy eyes and a bowl-shaped haircut said, "The Chunin Exams are coming…word is that they will be letting members of the rookie team compete for the first time in five years!"

"Nah!" Tenten said to him, "It probably has something to do with the Jonin."

"I doubt that, Tenten. They say that four of them are on the squad trained by Kakashi himself."

Another boy with pale, lavender eyes spoke up, "_The_ Kakashi? That is interesting." Tenten pulled out a kunai and poised to throw it as the boy continued, "Well, either way…" The knife was thrown and it hit dead center above the boy's head, "It all has a sad sound to it."

On the next day, Sakura shouted, "What the hell? Why is it that every time we get out, we end up like dopes for the challenger to show!" Naruto nodded in agreement, "She's right!" Sakura continued, "I mean, I overslept and didn't even get to blow-dry my hair!"

Naruto agreed, "Yeah, it's not fair I overslept too and didn't get to wash my face or brush my teeth."

"Eww, gross!"

Ishide replied, "Umm, Naruto, I doubt that anyone here wanted to know that."

Kakashi walked up to his team as he said, "Morning, guys! Today I wandered a bit from the road of life and…"

"You are such a liar, sensei!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison.

"In any case…" Kakashi continued, ignoring their outburst, "This may surprise you all, but I have recommended you four to take the Chunin Exam." He pulled out the forms and said, "You just have to fill out these applications. Now if any of you don't want to compete, then it is your choice. If you do, report to room 301 at the school by 4:00 tomorrow."

He left and Naruto walked along with his team as he thought, "Hmm, the Chunin Exams, there is going to be a lot of competition like that puppet master and who knows, I may even fight Sasuke too. If I win this, it will be smooth sailing to becoming the next Hokage."

Sasuke shivered with excitement as the thought of Gaara appeared in his head, "I might get to fight that spook along with Ishide as well."

Ishide thought, _"This is a good time to observe other people's jutsu and add them to my arsenal. Maybe I can train with Nekoshi during the exams to get stronger, but Sakura…"_ He looked over at her as she was lost in her thoughts.

"Sakura…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry about it, you have gotten a bit stronger and plus you got us to protect each other's backs."

Sakura smiled softly, "Thanks…Ishide." He nodded once and said, "Yeah, yeah….just don't tell anyone that I gave you confidence. I have a reputation to uphold against fan girls…"

**Next Day- Academy-** "Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted and Sakura flashed a nervous smile, "Uh…hi." Ishide thought, "Looks like she still has some doubts about her strength….and I wonder where is Haku, she should be here since she did say that she would be observing us as one of the proctors."

Suddenly there was a commotion near room 301; two boys were beating up a bowl-cut kid with huge eyebrows and a green spandex suit. _"Can't his eyebrows get any larger?"_ Team Seven all thought. The spiky-haired kid laughed with a snort, "Is someone as talentless as you really planning on taking the exam? Why bother? Bunch of wet behind the ear snotnoses!"

His comrade agreed with him, "You said it!"

Ishide looked to see a familiar face caring for the spandex kid, "That's Tenten…she must be on that boy's team." He moved in the crowd toward her as she said, "Please…you gotta let us in." She walked up to them and the spiky-haired kid raised his hand to slap her, but then his arm went backwards and behind his back.

He was instantly dropped to his knees and turned to see Ishide, "Now, now, now…that would have been very nasty!" Tenten said, "Ishide-kun!" The secret Jinchuuriki replied, "Hey, Tenten, how are you doing these days?"

The other boy moved toward him, but Ishide said, "Ah, ah, ah! Your friend is a bit of pain, so I wouldn't move forward of his arm will go break." The other boy stopped and replied, "You misunderstand! WE are trying to spare you. This exam is extremely difficult and we should know since we failed it three times already. There are people who made it, people who immediately gave up being a ninja…..other ended up, reduced to vegetables. We have seen it all!"

He ranted on, "The responsibilities for failed missions and dead shinobi rest on their shoulders and you punks want to apply? We're merely saving a step by tiding out the losers beforehand." Sasuke's voice said, "That sounds good in theory…but you better let us through and while you are at it, drop the genjutsu. We got business on the third floor."

"But before that…." Ishide said, butting in, "Say sorry to my friend over there or you are going to experience your arm breaking in five places." He applied pressure on it, making the boy wince in pain, "Gah, I am sorry, Tenten…"

"Good." Ishide let him go and walked toward his teammates. The spiky-haired kid rubbed his arm, "So you figured it out, eh?" Ishide smirked, "It was way too easy. Right, Sakura? You were probably the first one to notice."

"Huh?"

"You are better than all of us at understanding genjutsu and the second analytical person on our team. Right, guys?"

Naruto and Sasuke nodded in agreement while Sakura thought, _"Thank you…you guys."_ Then she said confidently, "Of course I noticed it, we are obviously on the second floor." Just then the genjutsu vanished to reveal room 201.

"Hey, not bad." Spike said, "But…seeing through it isn't enough!" He launched a kick at Sasuke, who brought his own leg to counter only for the bowl-haired kid to appear between them and stopped both of their attacks.

"_He is so fast!"_ Sakura thought, _"He guessed their attack patterns on both sides and placed himself in the nexus of both kicks. Is this even possible? He is different from the boy getting beat up just a minute ago."_

Sasuke thought, _"He stopped my attack…and there is something weird about his chakra."_

"Hey..." A Hyuga walked up to the boy in green spandex, "That wasn't the plan…who was the one that insisted that we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves." The boy protested, "B-But…" Tenten shook her head, "Here we go again…"

Sasuke thought as the strange boy walked toward Sakura, _"What the hell? His bruises have already healed!"_ The boy said to the pink-haired girl, "Hi, my name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura, correct?" She nodded dumbly and the boy flashed a smile as well as a thumbs-up, "Would you like to go out with me? I will protect you with my life!"

Ishide fell on the ground, roaring with laughter while Naruto bristled a bit in anger at Lee's boldness. "No...way. You are way out of hand." Sakura responded. The Hyuga turned to Sasuke and said, "Hey, you, what is your name?"

Naruto pouted, _"What the hell, man? Why does everyone wants to know about Sasuke. Stupid fucking Sharingan!"_ He thought. Sasuke answered curtly, "It is common courtesy to give out your name first." Then the Hyuga turned to Ishide, "You?"

"Uzumaki Ishide, I already know who you are, Neji Hyuga…" The Jinchuuriki replied coolly. With that, the two teammates and the Hyuga turned to each other's respective teams while Tenten thought, _"I wonder who is stronger. Ishide has come a long way and Sasuke is the Rookie of the Year as well."_

The boys that were blocking the door earlier stared at the six of them, "So those were Kakashi and Gai's brats, eh? Well, at least they managed to submit applications." They both made a hand sign to show their original selves.

"It looks like we can amuse ourselves with this year's crop."

"A little perk for being a proctor."

Sakura said energetically, "Let's go…guys!" Team Seven began to walk up the stairs to the third floor and Lee walked after them. Tenten called out, "Lee, what are you doing?" Lee glanced back as he said, "You guys go on ahead. There is something that I want to check out first."

Team Seven was almost at the door when Lee called out, "Hey, you with the scowl, wait up…" Sasuke asked, "What is it?"

"I want you to fight me here and now!"

"Why is it always him?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it is because he is the last loyal Uchiha, the Rookie of the Year with near perfect marks, making him a prime candidate for people to fight." Ishide said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Do you have to do that?"

"Yes…yes, I do since you are getting fed up with people ignoring you for Sasuke. Told ya you should have studied…"

Naruto said, "Those bandages…he must train very hard in order to get those kinds of bruises and judging by the speed he displayed, Sasuke is going to get his ass kicked by Bushy Brows…by using only his speed."

"You hit the nail on the head, Sasuke's Sharingan may be able to catch his movements, but his body will not be able to keep up with the movements at all." Ishide stated.

_**Hakureisaiga-Looks like everyone is meeting the freaks in the Chunin Exams, who else is next to face our favorite twins? Just who is Kurorei and what are his intentions with Ishide Uzumaki? Tune in next time to the fifth chapter, Intel Gathering**_


	5. Intel Gathering

**Chapter 5- Intel Gathering**

"Heh, challenging me, knowing the Uchiha name….you are about to learn what this name means, Thick Brows." Sasuke said in complete confidence.

"Please…" Rock Lee said.

"Heh, names means nothing but shit when it comes to fighting. I am pretty sure he is going to learn that the hard way." Ishide thought. Sasuke charged at him and Lee thought to himself, _"He's coming…I'm sorry, Gai-sensei, I may have to break your rules to…use that move."_

"**Konoha Senpuu!"** Lee cried out and Sasuke ducked under it smartly, only to walk right into the second kick. _"Damn it, I can't dodge it! I have to block!"_ the Uchiha thought to himself as he raised his arms. Then he noticed that Lee made a sign and the kick slipped through his guard to send him flying.

"_Sasuke-kun?! What happened, I thought he had that kick blocked?"_ Sakura thought and she looked over to Naruto and Ishide to see them both smiling. She shouted, "What are you two smiling about?" Ishide said, "What? You have to smile about this, it is not every day you get to see Sasuke get his ass kicked around, and I find this quite entertaining."

"_He slipped through my guard, is this ninjutsu or genjutsu?"_ Sasuke thought as he got up, _"Just what the hell is going on? Oh, well, it gives me a chance to practice it." _He activated the Sharingan and Ishide thought, _"What? When did he get two tomoe in both eyes?"_

Sakura smirked as she declared, "With the Sharingan, there is no way that Sasuke can lose to this guy!"

"Don't be so sure…"

"What?"

Just then Sasuke was slammed upwards by Lee's foot to his chin. "The Sharingan….couldn't read it, it can't be…" Lee voiced Ishide's conclusion, "My moves are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu…but taijutsu." Then the spandex-clad Genin appeared behind him as he said, **"Kage Buyou!"**

"But you may not believe it since it is so basic. The Sharingan has the ability to reveal all types of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Both of them need chakra and seals to be performed, but taijutsu is a little different."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, even if your eyes can see my movements, your body can't react fast enough to it." Lee said as he unfastened a thread of his bandage, "Do you know this? Among strong people, there are hardworking and genius type. If your Sharingan is a genius type from the Uchiha bloodline, then I am simply a hardworking type that has mastered only taijutsu. You could say that my taijutsu is the worst possible matchup for your Sharingan…and I will prove it with this jutsu that hard work can surpass genius."

"What is he planning?" Sasuke thought as Lee made his move only to find out that the end of his bandage was pinned by a pinwheel. A turtle appeared and shouted, "That is enough, Lee!" Lee flipped away while Sasuke was left to fall to the ground, only for Sakura to catch him.

"You idiot!" the turtle shouted, "You know that technique is forbidden!"

"But….I wasn't planning to use the other one?"

"And you think that you can get away with that excuse?! You already know what it means for a shinobi to reveal his or her special techniques….now are you ready for your punishment?"

Lee reluctantly nodded and the turtle summoned an older version of Lee in a weird pose. "You are in the full springtime of youth!" Naruto shouted, "What the hell?! Those are super eyebrows, what did he do? Staple caterpillars to his face?!"

"You know if Zabuza was here, I am sure that this guy could donate at least half of them to get them both to look decent enough." Ishide commented.

"Hey! Stop insulting Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted.

"Shut up! All of these freaks keep appearing, so how the hell are we supposed to react?!" Naruto shouted.

"Why you?!" Lee was about to retaliate until he heard his name being called by Gai.

"Lee!"

"Oh, yes, Gai-sensei?"

Suddenly Lee was sent to the floor with a punch, "You fool!" Then Gai knelt by him while Team Seven was in a bit of shock to Gai's handling, "You are…you are…" Lee began to cry as he said, "Sensei…I…I…" Then the Jonin hugged his student, "That is enough, Lee…you don't need to say it."

"Sensei!"

"_I lost…to that loser?"_ Sasuke thought in disbelief.

"Yes, this is what youth is all about, but it is alright, Lee…youth and mistakes go hand in hand."

"You are…too nice…Sensei."

"Although you did start a fight and almost broke my rules, my punishment will take place after the Chunin Exams."

Lee saluted him, "Yes!"

"500 laps around the practice range!" Gai shouted with his fist in the air, then he turned to Team Seven and asked, "Hey, you three, how is Kakashi doing?"

"You know Kakashi?" Sasuke said.

"Know him? Heh…"

Sasuke blinked and then Gai appeared behind them, "People refer to us as the 'eternal rivals'. 50 wins and 49 losses….I am stronger and faster than Kakashi." Ishide thought, _"No doubt he holds that truth…"_ Gai sent a kunai to free Lee's bandage strap as he said, "Well, anyway, you guys and Lee should get to the classroom."

Lee began to wrap his bandage up, but not quickly enough to let Naruto notice the bruises and stitches on his fist. _"He must train harder than all of us combined…" _he thought to himself. Just Gai left after wishing Lee luck.

Lee turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke…like I said before, I came here to test my abilities against you, but I am not the strongest one here, the most likely is on my team and I entered to defeat him. You are also one of my targets…be prepared during the exam!"

Sasuke gripped his fist and Naruto placed his hands behind his head as he stated, "Oh, well, the Uchiha clan isn't worth much these days…" Sakura protested, "Naruto!"

"Shut up…" Sasuke replied, "Next time, I will definitely beat him."

"Sure, you got your ass handed to you and you saw his hand too, didn't you….he trains twice as hard as all of us….that is all that is to it."

Sasuke gripped his fist and then a smirk appeared on his face, "This is getting fun, this Chunin Exam…Naruto, Sakura, Ishide, let's go…"

"Right!"

"So…Sakura did come after all." Kakashi said.

"What do you mean?" she asked her sensei.

"If you or your teammates came without each other, then I would have to bar you guys from the exams."

Naruto said, "Why did you tell us this sooner?"

Kakashi replied, "Because one of you would have pressured her to take it."

Kakashi said, "Right, anyway you four came on your own free will, you are my proud team…now go." Kakashi moved from the door and Team Seven strode through the doors to see a huge crowd inside. Immediately everyone started to stare at them and they got uncomfortable.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted as she glomped Sasuke and Sakura as usual started a shouting match against her former best friend.

Shikamaru came up, "You are taking this stupid test too? Don't die!"

Naruto said, "We are the ones who should be saying that, Shikamaru…" Next, Team Eight appeared, greeting their old classmates in an orderly matter.

Kiba shouted, "Yahoo, found you! Well, it seems that the Rookie Nine are back together again."

Shikamaru said, "You too?"

The Inuzuka boy said, "I wonder how far we will get, eh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke replied, "You seem pretty confident, Kiba."

"Of course, we did a lot of training, we won't lose to you."

Ishide slightly had a blush on his face as he saw Hinata, but scowled a bit as she was looking at Naruto.

Suddenly a new voice appeared, "Hey, you guys, you should be a bit quieter. You guys are rookies alright, screaming like little schoolgirls. This is not a picnic."

Ino said, "Who do you think that you are?"

The boy said, "I am Kabuto Yakushi and to prove my point, you should look behind you." Everyone looked to see a team of pissed off Ame team, which unnerved some of the Rookie Nine.

Then Kabuto said, "You remind me of how I used to be…."

Sakura said, "Umm, Kabuto-san, right? Is this your second time?"

Kabuto said, "Nope, this is my seventh time. The exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year taking it."

Sakura said, "So that means you know a lot about this exam."

Kabuto nodded and pulled out a deck of cards, "Naturally and since you are rookies, I will share my info with my ninja info cards."

Sakura said, "Ninja info cards?"

Kabuto explained, "They are basically cards that have information burned on them with chakra. I have four years of information….over 200 cards." Kabuto drew a card that appeared blank as he said, "They might appear blank, but to open the info on the cards…is to use your chakra and they only respond to your chakra only."

The card revealed a graph and Ino said, "Wow, it's really easy to read graph, what kind of info is this?"

Kabuto answered, "This is the number of teams that are taking this exam and a breakdown of what country they hail from."

Naruto glanced at it and thought, _"So there are 10 teams from Suna, 7 teams from Ame, 2 teams from Grass, 29 teams from Konoha and 1 team from Oto."_

Sasuke asked, "Do you have information on individuals?"

Kabuto said, "Oh? There are some guys that you are worried about? Of course…the information on all the exam's participants are not perfect, but I do have it. Even you guys, but I will say something about them and take a look."

Sasuke said, "Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee of Konoha."

Kabuto said, "You know their names, then this should be easy." He drew two cards and Sasuke said, "Show me."

Kabuto said, "Ok, first is Rock Lee, he is a year older than you guys and has completed 20 D-rank and 12 C-rank missions. His sensei is Might Gai, his taijutsu has greatly improved over the year, but he has seem to have no ninjutsu or genjutsu. Last year he gained attention as a new genin, but didn't participate in the last exam. His teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten."

Kabuto drew the second card, "Next is Sabaku no Gaara, there is not a lot of information on him since he is new and a foreigner. He has completed 8 C-rank missions and….wow, a B-rank. It has been said that from all of his missions, he has come back from every single one without a scratch."

Kabuto said, "Everyone here from the various countries are here to take the exam and filled with talented youngsters."

Hinata said, "M-Makes you lose confidence."

Sakura said, "So the ones who are here…."

Kabuto answered, "Yup, like Gaara and Lee….they are all the top elite genin from their reigning country." Naruto began to shiver and Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but then the Jinchuuriki shouted, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I won't lose to you bastards!"

Kiba scoffed, "I won't lose to you bastards? Big words...show off."

"You idiot, he just practically turned everyone into his enemy." Shikamaru commented and somewhere in the crowd, a Genin with a haystack on his back and covered in bandages said, "Should we do it?" The team joined them and moved through the crowd towards their destination.

The skinny, black-haired Genin jumped up in the air and threw kunai at their target, which was Kabuto. The boy jumped back only for the bandaged one to appear in front of him and aim a punch at him, but Kabuto was able to dodge it, but then his glasses broke.

"_I see…this kind of an attack."_ The Yakushi thought to himself. Sasuke said in surprise, "What is going on? He dodged that attack…so why did his glasses…" Shikamaru deduced, "It probably glanced off his nose, that is what he gets for acting like a big shot."

Suddenly Kabuto felt sick and threw up on the floor. The bandaged one said, "How pathetic, aren't you a four-year veteran." His black haired teammate piped up, "How about you write this on your cards, the three Sound ninjas, definite Chunin."

"Or complete idiots?"

The black haired one looked at Ishide and said, "You wanna say that again?"

"You all are complete idiots…getting worked up on a comment like that, it made you foolishly reveal your hidden talents, but it was a complete catch since you are from the Hidden Sound Village, so of course, you would specialize in sound attacks."

The bandaged one's eye narrowed and he made a move, but then he found Hakureisaiga at the end of his neck. "I suggest that you calm down or you will be leaving this world for the afterlife while your teammates have to explain why your incompetence caused them to get kicked out."

The bandaged ninja backed off and said, "Dosu Kinuta…my name."

"Zaku Abumi."

"Kin Tsuchi."

"Ishide Uzumaki…"

Suddenly a voice shouted out, "Quiet down, you worthless bastards!"

The genin said, "What is this?"

Suddenly a man with scars on his face dressed in a black trench coat appeared with various chunin behind him. Ishide smirked as he thought, _"Ibiki Morino, the Mind Specialist…..this looks appealing."_

Ibiki said with a smirk, "Thanks for waiting; I am Ibiki Morino, the first examiner for the Chunin Selection Exam." Some of the genin were unnerved at the sight of the man and the glare in his eyes. "First rule….there will be no fighting during the exam without permission of the examiner. Even I give you permission, killing is not tolerated. If you don't follow those rules, you will be failed immediately….do I make myself clear?"

The genin said nothing and then the proctor continued, "We will now start the first phase of the Chunin Exams. Instead of your current seating arrangements, you will pick up one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you, then we will hand out the exams."

The chunins behind him lifted up papers in their hands, soon everyone was seated appropriately and Naruto, by chance, happened to sit by Hinata while Ishide was seated by Temari. Hinata said, "Naruto-kun, l-let's do our b-best."

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki said, "Right…"

Ibiki said, "Don't turn your test over just yet, listen closely….there are many important rules to the test, I will write it out the board while I explain and no questions will be allowed."

Sakura said, "Rules? No questions allowed?"

Ibiki said, "First rule, you all start off with 10 points and since there are 10 questions on the test, each question is worth one point. You miss one, you have 9 left. Second rule, this is a team test….whether you pass or fail depends on the combined score of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to up to 30. Third rule, during this test, if anyone….and I mean, anyone is caught cheating will have 2 points deducted for every offense. So there will be some that will lose their points and be asked to leave."

Kotetsu said from the corner, "We have our eyes on you guys."

The genin began to fidget and Ibiki said, "Realize that the pathetic ones caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobi trying to be chunin, be proud ninjas." Ibiki said, "Now the final rule….those that loses all of their points and those who don't answer questions correctly will be failed along with their 2 teammates."

Sasuke thought, _"What?"_

Sakura thought, _"What did he say?"_

Naruto thought, _"I am so screwed."_

Ibiki said, "The exam will last for one hour….Begin!"

Ishide said, _"What the hell? The man practically gave it to us….that we all can cheat in the open just without being caught. Sure, I lose 2 points, but he gave us exactly 5 chances to cheat."_

Ishide was not the only one who noticed that factor, Gaara used his sand to blind a chunin and a eye made out of sand looked over his test, Hinata and Neji were using their Byakugan, Tenten used the mirrors to get the answers from her and Lee. He knew that Ino was a Yamanaka and if he was correct, she would use Sakura or some bookworm to get the answers and transfer the answers to Choji. Shikamaru would use his brain to answer them and probably sleep for the rest of the hour. Some of the genin have been kicked out every five minutes, then one random genin from Suna said, "Do you have proof that I have cheated 5 times? Are you guys all watching…"

Then one of the chunin grabbed the boy and slammed him in the wall, "Listen, among the chunin we are the elite that have assembled to watch over this exam. We have not missed a single thing you have done. You could say that this strength is our proof."

So Ibiki thought, "_Hehehe, we have gotten rid of the trash now….let's begin. It is about time."_

Ibiki said, "Ok, now it is time to start the 10th question. But before that, let's go over the added rules to the test."

Ibiki said, "Now these are the rules of desperation…"

**Some Building-** "It is sure boring without my team." Kakashi said sadly.

Asuma said, "Don't worry; you will be busy again soon."

Kakashi said in a confused tone, "Why is that?"

"I heard that proctor for the first phase was Ibiki Morino." The Sarutobi confided.

Kakashi said, "Oh, not that sadist."

Kurenai said, "Huh?"

The Hatake turned to the woman and said, "Oh, I forgot that you were recently promoted to Jonin a few years back, Kurenai. You see, Ibiki Morino is the head of ANBU Interrogation and Torture Department. Unlike physical pain, he prefers to use the mind and makes the victim screw himself over."

**Room 301-** Ibiki said, "First, you must decide that you want to take it or not."

Sasuke thought, _"Choose to take it?"_

Temari said, "Choose? What happens if we decide not to?"

Ibiki said, "That is simple really, your points will be reduced to zero and you will fail along with the two of your teammates."

Random genin shouted, "What the hell does that supposed to mean? Then of course, we will take the final question."

Ibiki gave them a sadistic smirk, "Now for the other rule…if you take the tenth question and get the wrong answer, that person will never be able to take this exam ever again."

Kiba shouted, "That is complete bullshit, there are guys that have taken this exam before."

Ibiki laughed, "You guys are unlucky…this year it is my rules, but I am giving you a way out….if you quit now, you can try again next year. Now let's begin the tenth question, who wants to give up?" One by one, genin dropped out and were escorted out the door. Ibiki asked, "Anyone else?"

Naruto slowly stood up and when a proctor was about to call his number, then Naruto brought his fist down, cracking the table and slightly scaring Hinata."Scarface, if you think that using that tactic to scare us, then they are mistaken, so take that and shove it up your ass."

Ibiki thought in amusement, _"Hmm…nobody had ever had the guts to call me that in a long time."_ Then Ibiki spoke, "Are you sure you want to take the risk? If you get this question wrong, you'll remain a genin forever."

Naruto spoke with conviction, "Then I will be the strongest genin ever then, titles are nothing when it comes to terms of strength. An inexperienced jounin can be defeated by an experienced genin."

Ibiki looked at the crowd, now sporting looks of confidence, _"Interesting…that speech gave them back their confidence and spirit."_ The Tokubetsu Jounin thought to himself. _"Time to give them the final verdict."_ The scarred man said, "For those of you remaining her, you…pass."

The genin all shouted, "SAY WHAT?"

Sakura asked, "Then what about the tenth question?" Ibiki answered with a smile, "Your choice to take the question was the tenth question." Temari shot out, "So what about the other nine, what was their purpose?"

The Torture and Interrogation leader said, "Those questions were not for a genin to answer unless you are a genius, forcing you to cheat, so we had two or more chunins located near you to help up out. Those who cheated poorly failed."

Ibiki chose this time to untie his bandana to reveal his scarred hand full of burns and screw holes, "Because…at times, information is more important than life, and people will risk everything to get it."

Sasuke thought. _"The after effects of torture."_

Ibiki retied his bandana, "If the enemy notices you, there is no guarantee that the info will be accurate. Information can be a powerful weapon for your country and teammates."

Temari said, "Demo…I don't understand the final question."

Ibiki sighed, "The 10th question is based on a choice, a leap of faith that could make you or break you. The ability to face any hardships and be perilous is the qualifications for a chunin. So I wish you guys luck."

Naruto smirked at him and to his surprise, Ibiki returned the smirk. _"Interesting kid…"_ Ibiki thought. Suddenly Ibiki detected movement at the window to find a banner flung into the room. It began to unwind to reveal a woman in a fishnet and long-sleeved beige trench coat.

Suddenly kunai flickered up to the ceiling and Ibiki thought, _"Not this one, geez…"_

A woman with gold eyes, a fishnet mesh bodysuit, an orange skirt with a tan trench coat and shin guards stood in front of the banner, which said 'Anko Mitarashi, the sexy Special Jonin' Anko said, "This is no time for celebrating, you guys…I am the examiner for the second phase….Anko Mitarashi, now let's go."

Ibiki peered from behind the banner, "Bad timing...you are early, Anko."

Anko said, "Ibiki, what is wrong with you? You let 78 people pass your exam?! You are not getting soft on me, are you?"

Ibiki said, "There are some interesting potentials here actually."

Anko looked at them and gave them a sadistic smirk, "Oh, well, my test will at least cut them down by half."

"Half?" Sakura whispered and gulped.

**Training Ground 44-** "Welcome to the stage for the second test, training ground 44 also known as 'The Forest of Death'!" Anko called out. Naruto looked up at the forest, "It doesn't look like much to me."

Anko smiled, "You're a spirited one."

Then a kunai popped out of her sleeve, and then it was thrown at the Jinchuuriki and in return, Naruto threw a glaive at her. The Tokubetsu Jonin dodged it while the kunai was caught by Naruto. She appeared behind him and cut his cheek, "Kids like you are the ones who always get killed first…hehehe…"

Then she licked the cut, "Spraying that red blood I love." Abruptly Anko turned around to see a Genin kunoichi from Kusa with Anko's kunai in her abnormally long tongue, "Here is your kunai…"

"Thanks, but next time, don't sneak up behind me."

"Oh, I am so sorry, it's just that I get excited at the sight of blood, plus you cut my precious hair…I couldn't help it."

Hinata thought in fear, _"Naruto-kun…."_

"_What is up with this examiner? This is bad."_ Sakura thought, _"And that Kusa girl too…"_

"Well, now, it looks like we got some bloodthirsty ones in this test. Hehehe….this should be fun." Anko said with a smirk while Naruto thought, _"You are the bloodthirsty one…"_

Anko regained her composure, "Well, then before we start the exam, you have to sign these papers…there will be deaths in this one and if you don't sign these, it will be my responsibility. I am going to explain the test, and then you can sign them. After that, each team will check in at that booth behind me."

She handed Naruto the waiver forms and he passed them out as she said, "Simply put…you will attempt the ultimate survival. First, I will explain the area….there are 44 gates exactly and there is a forest, a river and a tower in the center. Each gate is exactly 10 km away from each other. During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using the weapons and jutsu that you have, you will compete in a no rules scroll battle. You will fight over these two scrolls 'heaven' and 'earth' Since there are 26 teams here, half will get heaven and the other will get earth. To pass this test….you must reach the tower with both scrolls."

Sakura muttered, "So half of the teams will definitely fail because of this requirement."

Anko said, "There also is a time limit, the test will last for five days…"

Ino shouted, "Five days?"

Choji said, "What about food?"

Anko said, "You are on your own….the forest is filled with food, you just have to watch out for the man-eating beasts, poisonous plants, poisonous insects, etc. and 13 teams passing is not likely. As the days progressed, the time to rest is shorter and the distance to the goal is farther, plus the area is filled with enemies, you will not get that much sleep. So you can fail not only for losing the scroll, but the harshness of the course."

She smiled, "Now let's talk about what will disqualify you…first, those who don't make to the tower within the 120 hour time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or have their teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle of the exam, so if you are going to be a pussy, don't sign those papers. You will be in the forest for five days and also you can't look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

Shikamaru asked, "What happens if you do?"

Anko said, "Why spoil the surprise when you can dare to find out yourselves? Chunin are asked to handle classified information, this is to test your trustworthiness. That is it, exchange your 3 forms for your scroll, then choose a gate to get ready for the start."

Naruto smirked as he already signed his on the spot while Anko was explaining the rules. Anko said, "Oh, and a final word of advice….just don't die." Just then a random Chunin came out from the tarp to state that it was about time to exchange the scrolls to the teams.

As the teams went to get their scrolls, the Uchiha thought as he watched, _"I see…so you can't tell which team gets which scroll or who on the team is carrying the scroll. It is just exactly what Ibiki said, in this test we will be risking our lives fighting for information…everyone is an enemy and everyone is determined, there will be killing."_

Anko looked around, "Hehe, looks like the meaning of the signing that form has sunk it." Soon the Genin teams were placed at different gates to go through and Anko said, "Everyone, follow an instructor and go to your gates….we will begin the second phase in thirty minutes."

As thirty minutes passed, Anko declared the start and the Genin raced through their gates. Ishide thought, "_Here we go…time to get serious." _

Somewhere in the forest, there was a team in matching spandex suits that were watching Team Eight. Kiba stated, "So basically everyone is headed to the tower, right? Then setting traps near there would be best." Akamaru quietly barked and Kiba said, "So they are here already, eh? Where?" Akamaru shifted his head to the left and upwards.

One of the spandex Konoha ninja said, "Heh, kids just standing there out in the open. Do they want to be found? Looks like they have sensed us, but they don't know where exactly we are." Abruptly he started to shiver and one of his teammates said, "Hey, what's wrong, you are turning blue…"

Then he noticed something out of the back of his shirt, "What the hell is that?!" Suddenly giant leeches dropped from the canopy and fell to the ground. "Konoha jumping leeches will sense all life forms and attack in a group, five minutes of sucking and you will be shipped off to the next world. Realizing that and setting traps where the enemy might escape to. One down!"

Suddenly the trap that the Konoha group was under activated and they screamed loud. Anko heard them and commented, "Well, looks like they started already…."

**Team Seven- **"Was that a scream?" Sakura said, "I'm getting nervous."

Naruto said nonchalantly, "This… this is nothing. Anyway I gotta take a piss."

Sakura shouted, "What are you doing in front of a lady? Do that in the bushes."

Ishide muttered, "The lady part is arguable and I don't think you would complain if Uchiha did that." Sakura heard the last part and blushed heavily. A few minutes later, Naruto came back out and said, "Man! So much came out! I feel great now!"

"I said not in front of a lady and…!"

Suddenly Ishide stabbed Naruto with a kunai in the stomach and Sakura gasped, "Ishide, what are you…"

"Where is my brother, you bastard?" Ishide said coldly.

"But…"Sakura said, but Sasuke interrupted, "That is not him, Naruto is not left-handed and he is missing the cut that the examiner gave him." Ishide said, "Sasuke…find him, I will deal with this guy." The younger Uzumaki said, "Did you come alone?"

The Rain ninja said nothing, prompting Ishide to yank out the kunai and put back in deeper, causing the ninja to scream in pain and Sakura said, "Ishide…please stop." The boy said without looking back at her, "Sakura, you need to wake up…I thought that I beat that into your head, a ninja must be able to kill and be ruthless when it comes to others…this is the perfect chance to show you that aspect."

Suddenly he slashed the Rain ninja's throat and then began to check the body for a scroll, all he found was ninja tools and a scroll for other weapons, which placed in his pouch. He grabbed the body and threw in the bushes just as Sasuke and Naruto came out in the open.

"In case we get separated again next time, even if it's one of us, don't trust them. This could happen again." Sasuke stated.

"Then what do we do?" asked Sakura.

"We make a codeword just in case. Listen…if they get the codeword wrong; assume that they are the enemy no matter what they look like, so listen carefully, I will only say it once." The Uchiha responded, "The Nin song, Nin-Machine, when this is asked, answer with…a large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time when the enemy is tired and ill-prepared."

"Ok." Sakura said.

"Got it…" Ishide replied.

Naruto replied, "Wait, that is impossible to remember."

"Unlucky that I inherited the photographic memory, huh, Nii-san?"

Unbeknownst to them, a ninja was listening in on their conversation, preferably the Kusa kunoichi with the weird long tongue. In her mind, she commented on how smart the plan was to determine if their teammates were really their teammates.

"Hey, is this codeword really…" asked Naruto.

"I will hold the scroll." Sasuke interrupted Naruto's question. Suddenly a sharp wind came in and blew the four of them away from each other. The lone team of Kusa stood a little way from them, "You two can go play somewhere else…I will deal with them."

Sasuke slowly came out from his position and soon found Sakura, who repeated the codeword word for word, then came Ishide, who repeated the codeword and lastly, Naruto, who repeated the codeword as well. Suddenly the Uchiha launched a kunai and 'Naruto' dodged it.

"Well, at least this person is good enough to dodge my attacks…"

"But, Sasuke-kun, Naruto got the codeword right…"

"My brother would have came up and asked us to repeat the password, he doesn't retain information through lectures, he learns through his body or simpler terms."

"Impressive that you knew your brother inside and out….this will be more fun than I thought." The Kusa kunoichi said as she took off her hat.

Meanwhile, Naruto was getting to know an animal in the Forest of Death, which happened to be a huge snake that looked to be a size of a building. "There is no way in Hell that I am going to eaten by a snake…" he said as he tensed up to jump away.

The snake coiled up and struck at him, but Naruto jumped in the air and flipped through hand signs, **"Futon: Kaze no Yaiba!"** His arm sent a cutting wave of wind to decapitate the snake. The snake's body began to writhe and then it poofed out of existence.

"A summon? But the only one who uses snakes is….oh no, I got to hurry!" Naruto said to himself as he sped off to find his teammates and brother. _"Why the hell is Orochimaru here?!"_

Back to the rest of Team Seven, the Kusa kunoichi held up her earth scroll and said, "You want my earth scroll since you guys have the heaven scroll?" Then she stuffed the scroll down her throat and Ishide commented, "Okay, now that is just plain nasty as hell."

The kunoichi ignored him and stated, "Now let's begin…the battle for each other's scroll with our lives on the line." Waves of killing intent hit the three ninja and instantly they had a brief image of their death, Ishide was able to shake it off with the help of his tenant while Sasuke threw up on the ground.

"_Genjutsu? No, that was just plain fear…the killing intent in her eyes caused us to see an image of death, who is this guy?"_ Sasuke thought, then Ishide appeared beside him with Sakura under his arm and grabbed him to get to a different location.

"_That kid…he is that Jinchuuriki's brother? Interesting…"_

Sasuke was scared out of his wits and when Sakura opened her mouth to ask about his well-being, he covered her mouth. Suddenly a kunai was thrown in his direction and the Uchiha turned to face the dead eyes of a snake.

Suddenly the kunoichi appeared out of the snake's dead body to say, "You three shouldn't relax for a moment, prey should always try their best to run away in the presence of a predator that is…" Ishide said quietly, "Ken..." Hakureisaiga appeared in his hand and he pointed it at the kunoichi, "Just what the hell are you doing here, Orochimaru?"

"Kukukuku…how did you know it was me?"

"For someone that is considering a genius, you have no common sense whatsoever….there are only two people that are possible to use snake summons…there is your former apprentice Anko, our proctor and there is you, the slimy git."

Orochimaru frowned, "I don't like that mouth of yours, it reminds me too much of that idiot teammate of mine." Orochimaru slithered around the trunk like a snake until he was stopped by shuriken and a voice said, "Sorry, Sasuke…what was the codeword again?"

Naruto stood on a branch triumphantly and Sasuke said, "Naruto, we need to run away! This guy is on a whole another level." The Jinchuuriki looked at the Sannin, "Of course, what do you expect from a Sannin?"

Sasuke said, "That is exactly why we need to…"

"Sasuke, there is no point in running at all. He could have killed us at any time by now, the reason that he hasn't is that he likes to toy with his opponents before he kills them. We have no choice but to fight and possibly hope that ANBU are in the vicinity." Ishide said, "Besides this might be fun, eh, Naruto?"

"Yeah!"

"You two are insane…"

Orochimaru said, "You two are interesting, I suppose that I will kill you two first…**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**" Suddenly a large snake appeared in thin air and Orochimaru ordered, "Eat them…" The secret Jinchuuriki said, **"Uzumaki no Ryu: Touketsu Tatsumaki"**

He jumped in the air and spun in a forward roll inside of the snake's mouth; the snake slithered toward Naruto, but stopped to burst into blood and guts to reveal Ishide in the air with Hakureisaiga outstretched in his right hand.

Orochimaru was mildly surprised and that cost him greatly as Naruto punched him in the face, then Ishide sliced him across the chest only to reveal that it was a Doton Kage Bunshin. "Damn, he replaced himself with a clone." Ishide said on high alert.

He didn't notice Orochimaru coming from the trunk behind him and the boy was knocked away while his brother screamed out his name. Naruto became angry and slipped into the initial state to fight Orochimaru, who used his tongue to suspend him upwards as he used hand signs, "So the Kyuubi brat is still alive…so when your emotions are heightened, the power of the nine tails overflows, how interesting…and it looks like the seal is active. Can't have you using this power or else you could get in my way…**Gyogo Fuin!**"

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto is…" Sakura said, then Orochimaru casted the boy aside, but with Sakura's quick action, she used a kunai to pin him to a tree. Orochimaru moved toward the fallen Ishide and picked up Hakureisaiga, "I will be taking this off your hands…" He kicked him in the stomach toward Sakura, who caught him.

Sakura turned to Sasuke, "It is true that we may die here at the hands of that man, but at least…Naruto and Ishide are not cowards like you!" Her words struck a chord within Sasuke and the words of his brother Itachi began to play in his mind.

He activated his Sharingan and Orochimaru smirked, _"The blood of the Uchiha has begun to boil…" _Sasuke reached into his pouch while Orochimaru thought, _"I will take my time and test your abilities, Sasuke-kun. "_

"_I must survive in order to kill my brother. That is what I believed, yet I was the one afraid…if I can risk my life here, then how do I expect to kill my brother."_ Sasuke thought as he threw the kunai at Orochimaru, who dodged it by weaving.

Then the Uchiha grabbed the tree trunk to maneuver over to Orochimaru and threw a large shuriken at the Sannin as he thought, "I can see…" Orochimaru ducked under it and Sasuke threw the kunai that he held within his mouth.

Orochimaru tilted his head as he thought, _"Not bad, he is reading my movements and going for a critical hit, so he can see…" _Then Sasuke yanked his arms back and Orochimaru was confused for a second until he noticed something glinting, _"String?"_

He turned to see the shuriken aiming to cut off his head and thought, _"This is the Sharingan Windmill, Triple Blade."_ He caught the large shuriken within his mouth and said, "Heh…not too bad." Sasuke smirked, **"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"** The fire travelled across the string and burned off the face of the disguised Orochimaru.

"To use the Sharingan so well at your age, you are truly the man who carried the Uchiha blood…just as I thought, I want you. **Ninpou: Kanashibari**…"

Suddenly Sasuke couldn't move along with Sakura, who rushed to join him. _"My body…can't move."_ Sasuke thought as the Snake Sannin made a single hand seal and his neck elongated to allow him to bit Sasuke on his neck, "You will seek me out for power…"

Sasuke clutched at his neck and said, "What is this? Pain…."

"What did you do to Sasuke-kun?!"

"I gave him a going-away present." Orochimaru replied as he disappeared into the tree below him just as Sasuke began to scream out in pain. Sakura held him close as she wondered what she should do. Ishide and Naruto were unconscious, only she was left…the weak link. She had been taught physically to be able to keep up with the team, but had no jutsu. Team Seven was in a heap of trouble.


	6. Life Risking Battles

**Chapter 6- Life Risking Battles**

Sakura was able to drag Sasuke and Naruto back, and then Ishide as he was the one that was not injured the most. She was tending to Sasuke, "His breathing is back to normal, but he still has a strong fever…" Then she thought in determination, _"I…I must protect them."_

In the bushes, the Sound Trio had found them, "Heh, found them…" Dosu said, "As Orochimaru-sama commanded, we will attack at daybreak, our target is Uchiha Sasuke." Zaku said, "I call dibs on that Ishide guy if he gets in our way."

The Sound Trio came out and Dosu said, "Can you please wake up Sasuke-kun, we want to fight him." Immediately Sakura got in front of him and shouted, "Look, we know that this Orochimaru is your leader, so what is his purpose?"

The Sound team flinched back in mild surprise and Dosu said, "Hmm, I wonder what goes on in that man's mind." Zaku piped up, "But hearing that…we can't possibly let you two go, I will kill you two and then Sasuke."

"Wait a moment, Zaku…she set up an obviously booty trap. Kill them both!" Dosu said as his team leapt up, but Sakura smirked as she cut a string behind her and a giant log came crashing down. "Another trap from above? Oh, no…yeah, right."

Dosu planted his hand on the log and blasted a big enough hole for them to leap through. "Frankly speaking, girly…you have no talent. People like you have to work harder, weaklings like you shouldn't mess with us."

"**Konoha Senpuu!"**

The Sound Trio were knocked back as a voice said, "Then you guys…should work harder as well."

"Who the devil are you?"

"The Beautiful Green Beast of the Leaf, Rock Lee."

"Zaku, take Sasuke….I will take care of the freak." Dosu said. He ran at Lee, but Sakura distracted him with a few kunai that he knocked away. Lee reached into the ground and yanked up a large tree root to block Dosu's sound blast attack.

"There is some trick to your attacks, right? I am not going to simply dodge it since I have seen your attacks before." Lee stated. Then he thought, "But if it is a three against one, I am at a big disadvantage, I will have to risk it and crush them at full power."

"_Gai-sensei, I am going to use this jutsu without reservations…because right now is the time to protect a precious person."_ Lee thought as he unwrapped a long bandage on both arms and crouched down only to disappear in front of Dosu's eyes.

"_He vanished?"_ Dosu thought, but his thoughts were broken as Lee's foot went straight up his chin and the spandex-wearing Genin said, "It is not over…" He began to tie Dosu up with his bandages and then tilted him downwards as he spun in the air, "Take this! **Omote Renge!**"

Zaku flipped through hand signs as he said, "He can't protect himself like that! He is in trouble!" Lee slammed Dosu into the earth while he jumped away at the nick of time. _"This sensation…."_ The Gai clone thought.

"Phew…it looks like I made it in time." Zaku said. Dosu pulled himself out of the hole to Lee's disbelief and said, "What a terrifying technique, this much damage on even on a sponge of dirt. Now it is my turn."

Lee thought as he winced in pain,_ "Damn it, my body is still…"_

Dosu struck at the weird Genin, who was able to dodge it, but Lee felt woozy after that. "Even if your moves are at high speed, then ours are at the speed of sound. I will show you a wall that no amount of hard work can surpass."

Suddenly Lee threw up and Sakura shouted, "Lee-san!" The boy felt blood coming from his right ear and gingerly touched it. "There is a little trick here; you can't just dodge against my attacks." Dosu stated and Sakura whispered, "What did…"

"It's sound, even if you dodge my fist, sound will attack you." The bandaged Genin stated.

"_Huh?"_ Lee and Sakura thought.

"Do you know what sound actually is?" Dosu asked.

"Vibration," answered Sakura.

"Exactly…hearing sound will mean that your ear drum is catching the shaking of air and the human ear drum will break by sounds exceeding 150 mega Hertz and deeper within the ear lies the inner ear membrane. When that part is damaged, you will lose your balance…which means you won't be able to move your body as you wish for a while."

Zaku spoke up, "Lame old taijutsu won't work on us. Well, you were doing well…you forced me to use my jutsu, but, of course, you failed. I can freely control supersonic air waves and air pressure; I have the power to even destroy a rock. Blasting air into the earth and making a cushion is nothing to me; ours are different from your stupid techniques."

"_Damn it…"_ Lee thought.

"Alright…now it is your turn, pinky!" Dosu said as he charged forward. "Crap." Lee said as he struggled to move and Sakura readied herself as she thought, _"Here he comes."_ But both Dosu and Sakura were surprised to see that Lee could move and Lee shouted, **"Konoha Senpuu!"**

Then he winced in pain as his right ear throbbed and Dosu laughed, "So my attack is affecting you after all. You scared me there for a moment; you lost the ability to do repeated taijutsu in a flash." Dosu swung his arm and Lee blocked it as the bandaged man stated, "This Melody arm of mine multiplies small sounds produced to the ultimate level, you can say it is like a speaker, but the sound doesn't follow the direction of the arm, so I use chakra to direct to make sure that it always attacks my prey."

Lee screamed in pain as the sound was sent into his damaged ear, he fell to the ground while Dosu said, "Now let's finish this!" Sakura shouted as she threw her weapons at Dosu, "I won't let you…"

"Oh, please." Dosu scoffed as he used his gauntlet to block the weapons with a loud clang and Kin came up behind Sakura to grab her by the hair. "Much more luster than mine…trying to be a sexy ninja, huh? If you have time to treat your hair, then train, you female swine. Zaku, kill that Sasuke guy in front of this boy chaser's eyes, let's teach this one a lesson."

"Sorry, but that will not be happening today."

Suddenly Sakura's hair was cut down and the pink-haired girl turned around to see Ishide with a kunai in his hand. "Ishide…" she said and the Uzumaki looked at her, "Hey, Sakura…sorry about the hair, but it was the only way to free you at the moment. Hope you don't mind…"

She smiled, "No, it's okay, I needed a haircut…after this whole exam thing, and can we train again? So I don't have to rely on you three anymore."

"You got it, but let's focus on the present, so we can get to that future."

Dosu said, "That is if you will have a future…**Kyomeisen!**" The sound was directed to Ishide's ears and he screamed in pain as he went down, clutching them. The unofficial leader moved in for the kill until Ishide looked up suddenly with a huge smirk, "Just kidding…."

The Uzumaki slammed his fist into Dosu's face, sending him back to Zaku's position. Kin tried to intervene, but she was intercepted by Sakura and blocked her kunai with her senbon. "Now you will be dealing with me, bitch." Sakura said with a smirk.

"You know, you should be aware of your surroundings. You guys were so loud that I got awake from my nap and lay low to hear your description of how your techniques work. Luckily, I always carried a set of ear plugs to go on me…since my teammate over there has the loudest mouth next to an egotistical blonde fan girl."

In the bushes, Ino bristled in anger, "Why that…." Shikamaru said, "Calm down, do you want them to find us?" Ishide continued, "As to how I can communicate, reading lips is always useful when you are deaf."

The Uzumaki chose to crack his knuckles while rolling his neck, "Now…you two are going to pay for what you did to Lee and Sakura. Dosu growled and Zaku said, "I guess that I will take over….**Zankuuha!**" He sent his hands out toward Ishide, who smirked as he used a Kawarimi with Kin.

"Kin! Damn you, you…"

"Shouldn't you be worrying about yourself right now?" Ishide asked from behind Zaku. Zaku's eyes widened as he got two hooks and straight to his head, then he was kicked away. Dosu tried to back him up, but Ishide grabbed him by the neck and slammed him down into the ground.

"You…are last." Ishide said, "So you are going to sit tight there…"

He got up to see Zaku standing up quickly and shout, **"Zankuuha!"**

"**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" **

Ishide spat out a fireball and it connected with Zaku's air pressure blast to send it back at him, the lanky guy was forced to use Kawarimi and Ishide appeared behind him to send a punch to his face, then grabbed him by the hair to send a crushing knee blow to break his nose.

Zaku howled in pain as he clutched his nose, then Ishide sent a kick to his abdomen to send him away as he noticed Kin making a move. He rushed over to intercept her and used a palm thrust to send her away.

He declared, "You are not getting near my teammates, do you understand?!" His eyes flashed from blue-green to forest green as he unleashed his killing intent upon the Sound Trio. Dosu said, getting up from his position, "Hmph, looks like we will have to deal with you...you are beginning to be a nuisance."

Ishide froze for a moment and smiled, "Well, let me introduce someone that will entertain better than us." Sakura turned to see that Sasuke stood up, but his appearance was different. His Sharingan was activated and he had black flame marks over his body.

"Sakura, Ishide…I will take over from here."

Zaku said, "Take over? Hah, I bet you are just as weak as them."

"So says the one that was getting his ass kicked by my teammate." Sasuke replied with a vicious smirk.

"Why you?!" Zaku shouted and raised his arms.

Dosu said, "Wait, you fool!"

"**Zankukyokuha!"** Zaku shouted as he aimed it at Sasuke, Sakura, Lee and Ishide, "Heh…I blown him away!"

"Exactly blown who away?"

Sasuke was beside Zaku and gave him a hit across the face while Ishide was setting down Naruto and Lee. "Fast and while he was carrying that Sakura girl as well." The Uchiha flipped through hand signs and shouted, **"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"**

Zaku got up and said, "Hmph, I will just blast them away." He sent a blast of air pressure, but then he realized that shuriken were inside the flames as well. The cocky Sound ninja screamed in pain as the shuriken shredded into his body.

Next, Zaku found himself kneeling on the ground with his arms behind him. "You seem so proud of these arms…look like I will have to take them from you, so say goodbye." SNAP! Zaku's arms were wrenched from his sockets and he screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.

"You are the only one left, I hope that you will let me have mo…"

Suddenly Ishide appeared in front of him and sank his fist into the Uchiha's abdomen, "Sorry, Sasuke, but you will not have that fun today." Sasuke sank to the floor as the flame marks receded and fell to the ground.

"You two….are strong, here is our earth scroll." Dosu said as he tossed the Earth scroll to them and Ishide caught it deftly in his hand, "This may seem convenient for your team, but there will be a situation where our paths will cross again and we will neither run nor hide from you."

"I am sure that we will look forward to that, Dosu…"

Then Sakura shouted, "Wait…who is Orochimaru and what did he do to Sasuke-kun and why?"

"I don't know, our orders were to kill Sasuke Uchiha." Dosu said, then he thought, _"But for him to go ahead of us and put the Curse Seal on his neck…what is your reasoning?" _

"Looks like that we have both scrolls now, we need to get to the tower." Ishide said. Suddenly Team 10 along with the rest of Team Gai came out and Neji said, "Hey, you…" Ishide replied back, "You know, it's better to call someone's name out to get their attention, Neji Hyuga."

The Uzumaki walked over to Lee and carried him over to Tenten. "He should be right as rain in a few hours, just don't let him strain himself too much, alright, Tenten?" Tenten nodded and took over while Ishide woke Naruto up.

"Naruto, there is ramen…"

Instantly Naruto woke up as he said, "Where?" He looked around for a few seconds and then said, "That is not funny, Ishide." The younger sibling said, "I wasn't making a joke." As Tenten and Lee were about to leave, Sakura said, "Lee-san, thank you…thanks to your courage and chivalry, I have awakened to take my profession seriously."

"You're welcome, Sakura-chan…but it looks like I need more hard work. The Uchiha and Uzumaki clan are sure great, to drive off those Sound Nins, you are the owner of incredible power. I got my ass handed to me." Lee said sadly.

"_What? He was beaten? Just what is going on, are they that strong?"_ Sasuke thought and then he turned to Ishide and Naruto, _"Those two…are part of a clan? I have never heard of the Uzumaki clan before until now."_

Lee looked up at Sakura, "Sakura-chan, the leaf lotus blooms twice…when we see each other again, and I will be a stronger man." Sakura smiled as she said, "Yeah…" Then Ino called her over to straighten up her hair a bit.

Neji thought from his position, _"Uchiha Sasuke…he is a formidable enemy and Uzumaki Ishide…there is something about him." _Soon they all parted ways and Team Seven strode to the tower with their scrolls, avoiding other teams and then reached the tower.

"Nobody's here…." Naruto said, and then Sakura pointed to say, "What is that?" There was a board with a quote from the Sandaime Hokage and Naruto commented, "Without heaven, what does that mean?" The kunoichi said, "I think it means that we have to open the scrolls now."

"Alright, then let's open them." Naruto said. He handed Sakura the heaven scroll while he opened the earth scroll, they both revealed the kanji for 'human'. Sasuke shouted, "Throw away the scrolls quickly…"

The scrolls let loose a white cloud of smoke to reveal Iruka, "Hey, long time no see, you four…"

"Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked. The Chunin replied, "At the end of this test, it was set up, so that we, Chunins, meet up with the exam takers and I was allowed to meet you guys. It looks like you made it with a day to spare…so, congratulations, you have passed the second test. I would buy you a round of ramen but…"

Suddenly Naruto leaped up to hug Iruka as he shouted, "We did it!" Sasuke asked, "Iruka-sensei, just curious, but what would have happened if we had opened the scroll in the forest?" The Chunin chuckled, "Nothing gets passed you still, Sasuke…we were tasked to knock people out and they would automatically be disqualified from the exam."

"Oh, yeah, Iruka-sensei…what is the meaning of that message? I couldn't figure it out…"

Naruto said, "It is easy, heaven represents the mind and earth represents the body…for example, it is like yin and yang, I need heaven more than earth…so I need to study and train my mind more while you, Sakura, need to train physically instead of your mind. When we have those two aspects in balance, we will be formidable against any opponent."

Sakura, Sasuke and Iruka were shocked at Naruto's comment and he stared back at them, "What? Just because I am a little slow on the uptake when it comes to things like these doesn't mean I am a complete idiot."

"What about the missing word?"

"That is simply…you put your name in the sentence. The last sentence is that these rules will guide a person's extremes."

"Correct, Naruto…Chunins are at a rank of a military captain, which means that you have the responsibility of guiding a team along with the knowledge, wisdom and stamina, which are needed for your duties. I want you four to challenge the next step with this motto in mind. Now…I will escort you to your rooms to rest a bit until the rest of the students have come."

Three days later, The Rookie Nine, along with Team Gai, Team Kabuto, Team Dosu, Team Gaara and Team Ame stood before their senseis, proctors and the Hokage himself. "First off, for the second test, congratulations on passing!" Anko said, and then she thought to herself, _"I never would expect 24 of them to be here, I was expecting single digits actually…but at least I cut them in half practically."_

Gai stated, "Your team is not that bad, Kakashi. Maybe they got lucky, but with my team around, getting any further is nigh impossible now since from now it's about real skill. Well, with youth, there are sweet times and sour times, eh, Kakashi?"

"Huh, oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"_Damn you, Kakashi! You make me so mad! Why do you always have to act so cool?!"_

"_For so many to be here and most of them are rookies…"_ Sarutobi thought, and then he whispered as he looked at their senseis, "No wonder they nominated them all…" Anko spoke up, "Now Hokage-sama will now explain the third test, listen carefully."

"Thank you, Anko…now before we begin the third test, there is something that I must bring to your attention, it concerns with the true reason of this exam."

"_True reason?"_ thought Sakura.

"Why do we have all the allied countries taking the exam together?" The Hokage asked rhetorically, "To promote friendship among the countries? To raise the level of shinobi? I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. The exam is…"

Tenten thought to herself, _"Is…"_

"A replacement for war between the allied countries." Sarutobi finished. The bun-haired kunoichi asked, "What does that mean?" The Hokage answered, "If we were to go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that countries chose for battle…the origins of this Chunin Exam."

"Why the hell do we have to do this crap? Wasn't this test for deciding who is a chunin?!" Naruto voiced out. "It is a fact that this exam decides which shinobi have what it takes to become a chunin, but on the other hand, the exam has another side to it, where each country's shinobi risks their own life to protect their land's prestige." Sarutobi replied after taking a puff from his pipe.

"Prestige?" Ino piped up, "I don't understand…"

"Watching the third phase of the exam will be leaders and influential individuals. From many countries that make up the clients of the shinobi and the leaders of those leaders will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear, then that country will gain more clients and conversely, if seen as weak, that country will lose clients. This also send a political message to potential enemy countries, by saying that 'our village has this much power'."

Kiba blurted out, "Yeah, but why?! Why it is that we must risk our lives in battle?!"

"Simple…the strength of the country is the strength of the village, which is the strength of the shinobi and a shinobi's true strength is only shown through life-risking battles. This exam is a place to observe each country's power and to show off your own power. It only has meaning because lives are at risk and that is why those that have come before you have fought in the Chunin Exam for this dream are meaningful."

"But then why…" Tenten asked, "Do you say stuff about it being for 'friendship'"

"I said it in the beginning; I don't want to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance, this is the shape of friendship in the world of the shinobi, now before we begin the final test, I will tell you one more thing, this is not only a test…it is a life-risking battle with your dreams and your country's reputation on the line."

"I get it…" Naruto said to himself as he crossed his arms while Gaara said in monotone, "I don't care what it is…just hurry up and tell us what this life-risking battle entails." The Hokage said, "Of course, I would like to explain the third test, but…"

"Actually *cough*…" A sickly voice interrupted. A Jonin appeared before the Hokage, "I apologize, Hokage-sama, for the interruption. From here on, as the referee for this part of the exam, will you please allow me, Gekko Hayate…"

"By all means…"

Hayate turned to the Genin, "Hello, everyone, I am Hayate…umm, before we begin, there's something that I would like you to do." Ishide thought, "He looks sick, but he must do a façade to get people to underestimate him."

"Umm, it is a preliminary for the third phase to decide who gets to participate in the main event." The Jonin continued. "Preliminary?" The bubblegum- haired Genin whispered to herself. Shikamaru was more vocally about it as he shouted, "Preliminary?! What do you mean?"

"Sensei, I don't understand this preliminary, but why aren't all the people here allowed to participate in the next test." Sakura said meekly.

"The first and second test proved to be too easy for you Genin, so in a result *cough* we have too many people remaining. According to the Chunin Exam Rules, it is required to have a preliminary to reduce the number of participants for the next test."

"No way…"

"As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many people watching your fights, so the fights could take too long, we are limited in time. Umm…so anyway…those who are not feeling well or who feel like quitting after these explanations please come forward now since we will be starting the preliminary immediately…"

"What?! Right now!?" Kiba shouted in disbelief. Kabuto looked at Orochimaru, who shook his head no, indicating that he should stay in to gather information on his primary subject, Uchiha Sasuke."Nobody wants to retire? Oh…umm, I forgot to tell you that you all will be battling individually, you may raise your hand based on your own judgment."

Nobody moved and Sasuke grabbed his neck in pain, "The waves of pain are becoming more frequent." Sakura thought, _"Sasuke-kun…I knew it."_

"So no more retiring…"

Sakura whispered, "Sasuke-kun, you should also quit the prelims."

"What?"

"You have been strange since that Orochimaru guy attacked you, that mark still hurts, doesn't it? If you continue…"

"_Mark?"_ Naruto thought to himself while Ishide thought, "_And here comes Sasuke snapping…"_ As the thoughts of Orochimaru's words came to her head, Sakura tearfully pleaded, "Please…please quit, I am afraid…you are in no condition to fight."

"_Shut up…" _Sasuke thought in his mind.

"I can see it; you have been hiding the pain all this time!"

"Be quiet."

"Whatever you say, I am going to tell the Jonin about that mark, then…" Sakura said as she raised her hand, but Sasuke grabbed it and said, "Shut up about the mark." The Haruno shouted at a reasonably level, "Why are you so stubborn? I can't stand to see you suffer anymore…you are."

"Shut up, Sakura…" Ishide said and she turned to look at him, "But…"

"You wouldn't understand how Sasuke feels about this fight? His pride will not allow him to quit as well as his ambition, the way he sees this exam is a chance to prove himself against strong opponents like Gaara and Lee. Besides he wants to get his ass kicked, then we shouldn't deny him his request."

"Don't forget, Ishide…I also want to fight you and Naruto."

"That is if you survive that mark and don't get your ass killed."

"Alright, then since we have an even number of 24 contestants, we will have 12 matches…and the winners will advance to the third test. There are basically no rules, the fight continues until one of you dies or knocked out or concedes defeat. *Cough* If you don't want to die, then I suggest that you forfeit quickly…but when I clearly decided who is the winner since we don't want pointless corpses, I will jump in and stop things and the object that controls your destiny is…" Hayate stated.

Anko muttered into her headset, "Open it."

The wooden board slid upwards to reveal an electric score board. "Is this electric score board will show the match-ups for each battle. Now this is sudden, but let's announce the names for this fight." Hayate said.

The board flipped through the Genin's names randomly until they stopped at Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado and Sakura said, "No way…why does he have to?" Ishide said, "They know…"

"What?"

"I said they know…it wouldn't have mattered if you brought it up. That is why they put Sasuke up on the first match to get him out of the equation now, but if that curse mark activates again, one of them will have to jump in and stop the match or worse, kill him."

"Now will everyone except the two participants please proceed to the upper level?"

Sasuke's eye twitched at a wave of pain, _"The seal is acting up again."_

Yoroi thought, _"Heh…it seems that Orochimaru-sama's seal still hurts him."_

Lee thought, _"Good luck, Sasuke!"_

Neji looked at him intently, "_A chance to watch his abilities."_

Kakashi watched past Sasuke as he said, "Sasuke…I know about the curse seal, and just so you know, if it activates, I will stop the match." Sasuke thought, _"Shit…I can't use Sharingan or my normal jutsu."_

Orochimaru thought silently as he came into view as a jonin, "_Looks like Yoroi is fighting Sasuke-kun…that is most unfortunate, that is the worst possible fighter for him with the curse seal on him."_The Snake Sannin thought.

Everyone did so and Hayate said, "Now **Match 1**: Sasuke Uchiha versus Yoroi Akado…begin!"

Yoroi did the Tora sign, "Are you ready?" His right hand glowed ablaze with chakra as his left had reached into his pouch. Sasuke reached in his holster. Yoroi flicked them at the Uchiha, but the Uchiha did an overhand strike with his kunai, sending the projectiles back at him.

Then the seal decided to throb and Sasuke fell down to the ground. Yoroi saw the opportunity and acts by moving toward Sasuke.

He aimed his right hand to smash Sasuke's head, but the Uchiha rolled to the side and slammed the kunai point into the ground, then he tripped Yoroi using his feet, then maneuvered him into a wrestling move, threatening to break his arm. But Yoroi's hand grabbed Sasuke's shirt and Sasuke felt his strength fading away fast.

His grip on Yoroi's arm slipped and Yoroi elbowed Sasuke in the gut, and then flipped up into a kneeling position.

Sasuke thought, _"What was that? My strength just suddenly…"_The weird ninja then moved toward the fallen avenger, causing Sakura to shout in alarm. Sasuke looked up to see Yoroi's chakra-infused hand clamped on his head, and the Uchiha began to feel weaker and weaker.

"You…my chakra!" Sasuke said.

Yoroi chuckled, "So you finally noticed, it's about time."

Orochimaru thought, _"Yoroi's special ability is that he can suck chakra rendering the person useless and weak by a touch of his hand. When he sucks all of your chakra, you will have no choice but to release the cursed seal…now unleash its beautiful power."_

Sasuke moved his leg to prop it against Yoroi, "Ugh…damn…you!"

Yoroi was kicked away and skidded away, "So…it seems that you still have power left?" Yoroi charged again, having Sasuke dodged the swipes of his hand. Sasuke aimed a roundhouse kick at him, but Yoroi jumped over and landed away from him.

Sasuke thought desperately, "_If he tries to touch me one more time, I am done for and he will try to get in close combat with me. What do I do?"_

Gaara thought, _"Is that all you have….Uchiha Sasuke."_

Naruto shouted after he looked upon the pained face of Sakura, "Sasuke! Are you really Uchiha Sasuke?! Is this the best you can do?" Sasuke looked to see Naruto and Lee on the balcony, _"That's it…I know what to do."_ He thought.

Yoroi charged at Sasuke, "It's over, Uchiha!"

But the next move surprised everyone especially Lee as Sasuke used the same move that Lee used on him. _"That's my…"_ Lee thought as his sensei said, "What?"

Sasuke appeared behind Yoroi, "Though from here, it's all original from here." Sasuke said, "It's over." The Uchiha poked him in the back and the opposing ninja recognized the move, "Kage Buyou?"

"Take this!"

Now the seal chose the time to act up and the marks began to dance all over his body. _"Heh, having them worry about me…I will not let…this thing…consume me!"_he thought as the thoughts of Sakura and Ishide appear in his mind's eye, allowing his will push back the cursed seal. _"The seal is returning!"_Anko thought in shock.

"Here it comes." The Uchiha declared.

Sasuke pushed off of Yoroi's back and aimed a kick at Yoroi's right side.

Yoroi blocked the kick and scoffed, "Not enough." Sasuke grimaced and used the momentum of his kick to aim a punch to his unguarded left side.

Kakashi said, "Not enough…eh?" Yoroi's head snapped downwards, but Sasuke did not relent."Get your ass back here!" the Uchiha shouted as he used his right arm to catch his opponent in the chest.

Before Yoroi hit the ground, Sasuke turned to land a kick in the chest as he shouted, "There's more! **Shishi RENDEN!**" Yoroi's head snapped upwards to cough up blood and he was knocked unconscious.

Sasuke slid to the side before coming to a complete stop. _"Like I have to check."_ The sickly proctor thought as he checked the pulse of Yoroi, and then turned his head to the side to smile at the wobbly Uchiha. "I am stopping this match, thus Uchiha Sasuke is the winner of this match."

Sasuke fell backwards only for Kakashi to catch him with his foot, "Well, good job…" Sasuke let out a small smile as he scoffed a bit, then the lanky Jonin thought, _"That movement before the Shishi Rendan was from Gai's Goken…he must have copied it when he tousled with Lee earlier."_

"Sasuke! What a lame way to win! You are all beat up, idiot!" Naruto yelled out.

"That damn…total moron." The Uchiha said as he looked at his teammate, then he turned to look at Lee as he thought, _"Thanks to you, Lee, I was able to survive…if I hadn't seen you move earlier, then I would have been in trouble…but it is not a move for me to count on."_ Sasuke's body began to rake in pain as he sat on the ground.

"_I see…that time, you were able to copy a part of my technique from just seeing it once. That is your ability…Sasuke-kun, what are a person you are…you will only get stronger and stronger, even I feel…fear."_ Lee thought to himself.

Gai thought, _"Mastering a part of the super taijutsu technique, 'Lotus' is impossible without grueling training…even with the Sharingan, it's not something that can be perfected quickly and the creativity of that finishing move. Kakashi…he reminds me of you when you were young."_

Tenten thought as she looked between Neji and Sasuke, _"This is interesting…last year rookie was Neji and this year, it is Sasuke...which is stronger, I wonder?" _

"_But what a guy…to release the true power of the Sharingan here, the terrifying Uchiha blood."_ Kakashi thought as he looked at his student.

Kakashi said, "Now let's get that curse sealed up now." Sasuke said, "Can you wait until the prelims are over, I want to observe the matches." Kakashi said, "Don't worry, I'm sure your teammates and I will tell you all about them and their fighting styles." Kakashi took Sasuke away as the screen flashed to reveal the next match.

Hayate coughed, "Will*cough*Abumi Zaku and *cough*Aburame Shino please come down?" Zaku said, "Who the hell is this loser? This will be easier than I thought." Shino quietly walked down the stairs to the arena.

Sakura looked at them and saw Zaku's arms were still in a sling. _"That Sound Nin is the one that Sasuke-kun broke his arms….if he fights like that; he will be at a complete disadvantage."_ She thought to herself.

"Will Shino-kun be alright?" Hinata asked her feral teammate and Kiba answered, "Yeah, he will be…he is strong, he is one person even I don't want to fight." Hayate said calmly, "**Match 2:** Zaku Abumi versus Shino Aburame…please begin."

"_Now Zaku…it will be interesting to see how you fight."_ Dosu thought, then Orochimaru disappeared and Dosu looked on without saying a word. Shino spoke to Zaku in monotone, "If you fight here, you will never fight again, it's best if you forfeit."

Zaku's left arm twitched a bit and he began to move, "It seems that this one can move a bit, but I only need one arm to kick your weird ass." Zaku flew at Shino, but the Aburame brought his arm to block Zaku's strike.

Zaku cursed, "Damn it!"

Shino replied, "It is useless, you can't beat me with just one arm." Zaku retorted, "Shut the hell up! Take this!" Zaku's hand opened to reveal his air hole, **"Zankuuha!"** The blow hit Shino full force in the head and Shino rolled on the ground, smoking.

"Hehehe!" Zaku chuckled with a smirk, "Hey, get your ass up!" Shino slowly got up and revealed something that Zaku was slightly disturbed. What the Oto Nin saw was that Shino had bugs crawling under his skin…literally. _"W-What the? He has…bugs from inside his body?"_Zaku thought to himself.

Then he heard a multitude of noises behind and turned to see an army of bugs behind him. Shino explained, "They are called kikaichu bugs, they attack in numbers and consume chakra. Like I said, if this many behind you get you, you'll never be a ninja ever again. If you don't want that then you should give up." Zaku glared at him for putting him in this predicament.

Shino pushed up his shades, "If you decide to attack me with your arm, then the bugs will get you and if you attack my bugs, I attack you." Zaku cursed loudly, "Damn…" Shino said, "You should always save your trump card at the last moment."

Zaku thought as images from his past of the meeting with Orochimaru came into view, _"I can't…I can't continue to fail!"_ Zaku shouted, "Don't mess with me!" Zaku pulled his right arm out as he declared in a proud voice, "Heh…you should always have a trump card at the last moment, right?"

Kiba shouted, "What? He can use his right arm too!"

Dosu thought, _"So it was all an act that his right arm was completely useless…heh, good one, Zaku."_ Zaku shouted, "Take this!" Suddenly his arms imploded and one of them fell to the ground.

Zaku looked at it in shock as he saw kikaichu coming out of the air tubes. Shino came behind Zaku as he said, "When I told you to give up, I sent some of them to close your dangerous air holes with their bodies. That is a true trump card."

Zaku shouted, "You bastard!" He sent a punch, but the Aburame ducked and back handed Zaku. Hayate declared, "Shousha: Aburame Shino."

**Sasuke and Kakashi-** "Don't worry…it will be over soon." Kakashi said, _**"Fuja Hoin!"**_ He placed his hand on his shoulder and the marking surrounding Sasuke came on to his body and encircled the cursed seal.

"Now that seal relies on your willpower, Sasuke, if your will waver for even a second, that seal will run wild." Sasuke fell over, exhausted and unconscious. "So you can use sealing jutsu now, huh, Kakashi?"

Kakashi's lone eye widened, "That voice…" He slowly turned around to see Orochimaru. "You have grown, Kakashi…You mind handing the boy behind you." Kakashi accused, "What do you want with Sasuke?"

Orochimaru said, "The same thing that you have implanted in your left eye…you should understand after that. " Kakashi said, "Foolish ambition…" The Sannin replied, "Well, yeah, something like that and for that very purpose, I need a lot of pieces."

Kakashi said, "Sasuke are just one of those pawns." Orochimaru said, "Oh no, Sasuke is a very important piece, but the guys taking the test are just my pawns."

Kakashi charged up his Raikiri, "If you attempt to take one step toward Sasuke, I will kill you, Orochimaru. I don't care if you are a Sannin."

Orochimaru laughed, "It will not work, Kakashi, Sasuke will eventually come to me to seek power. After all, he is an avenger." The Snake Sannin walked away while he left Kakashi an image of his head being decapitated.

"Compete with him? What was I thinking? Am I an idiot?" Kakashi thought in slight fear.

Stadium Arena- Hayate said, "Okay, now **Match 3:** Sabaku no Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi, will you please come down to the arena?"

Kankuro said, "Heh, this will be easy enough."

Baki, the sensei of Team Gaara, said, "Kankuro, don't get cocky."

Kankuro pretended that he didn't hear him at all and continued to the arena. Temari muttered, "That idiot is going to get himself killed." Kankuro stood and faced Misumi, Yoroi's teammate. Misumi said, "Just throw the match or I'll kill you."

Kankuro said, "Sorry, but I plan on winning this match."

Hayate shouted, "Begin!"

Kankuro started things off by throwing a punch to Misumi's face, but the Konoha spy blocked it with his forearm and then something weird happened. Misumi's arm twisted around Kankuro's arm, startling him and allowing Misumi to constrict himself all over Kankuro's body.

"You see, my bloodline allows me to dislocate my bones and become like rubber. Now forfeit the match or your neck will snap."

Kankuro grinned and said, "Never."

Misumi squeezed tighter and tighter until everyone heard Kankuro's neck snap. "Goddamn it, I really didn't want to kill him." Suddenly Kankuro's face started to peel off like ceramic, then Kankuro lifted his head and turned it completely around to reveal that the person Misumi was holding was not a person, but a marionette.

"Now it is my turn!" The puppet said in Kankuro's voice.

Next, the puppet's arms sprang from the cat-suit and wrapped around Misumi's body.

"A puppet? Then where is…." Misumi said. Then he looked toward the bandages to see something moving and a hand popped out to remove it, revealing Kankuro.

"You're a puppet master." Misumi said in disbelief.

Kankuro said, "That is correct and now I will return the favor, but I won't break your neck instead I will break everything else." Kankuro clenched his fist and the puppet crushed Misumi's bones and making him scream out in pain before falling unconscious.

"Like I said, too easy." Kankuro said.

Hayate thought, _"That was close, I almost called the match too soon."_

Kankuro walked back upstairs while the medics came and carried Misumi's broken body to the hospital. The board flashed once again as Naruto commented, "This exam has a bunch of weirdos here…" Kakashi replied, "You are one to talk, Naruto."

"Hehe, good one…" Sakura laughed lightly and then Kakashi said, "This is no time for laughing, Sakura…"

"Why?"

"Because you are fighting Ino…" Ishide said as he sat down Indian style, thumbing at the board. Ino and Sakura looked at the board in surprise and the two kunoichi walked down the stairs to stand in front of each other.

"**Match 4: **Sakura Haruno versus Ino Yamanaka…begin."

"Sakura…I never thought that I would be fighting you so soon…" Ino said, and then Sakura reached up to her headband and took it off. "W-What?" Naruto said and Ishide smirked as he said, "Looks like Sakura is getting serious, maybe this fight will be worth watching."

"_She may not look like it, but Ino is exceptional among the kunoichi, but I wonder if she will be able to go all out against Sakura."_ Asuma thought to himself. Shikamaru said, "Those two? Looks like this will get annoying…"

"Is Ino going to be alright?" Choji asked.

The young Sarutobi thought, "_Yeah, Ino, what will you do?"_ Sakura said, "Right now, I have no intention of fighting over Sasuke-kun with you."

"What was that?"

"You and Sasuke-kun don't go together anyway and I am completely stronger than you right now, I don't need to be concerned with you."

"Sakura…who do you think you are talking to? Don't get ahead of yourself, cry-baby Sakura."

Naruto said worriedly, "Sakura-chan is taking this a little bit too far; Ino has really scary eyes right now." Kakashi said, "Hmm, Sakura is the type to brag about her strength or hurt others willingly, the main guess is that she want Ino to take her seriously and don't show any mercy."

The Haruno thought as she stared into the pale blue eyes of Ino Yamanaka, _"Ino…I have always believe those words you told me, I always hoped they were true. I wanted to be like you, you were my goal and thanks to you, I am here. That's why, Ino, I want this to be an all out fight. Unless I really surpass you, it's meaningless…"_

"Why are they acting all serious like that?" Naruto asked and his brother said, "It's a stand-off between the two of them, sort of like your rivalry with Sasuke…they are battling to see who is stronger and more worthy of winning Sasuke's heart."

Ino then smirked as she took her headband from her waist, _"I get it…Sakura, all out battle."_ They both tied their headband onto their forehead and Sakura started things off with a jutsu. "Just a Bunshin no Jutsu." Ino thought.

The Yamanaka declared, "This is not the Academy Graduation Exam, you think that you can beat me with a textbook jutsu like that?!" Then she thought, _"If I just look closely, I can figure out which one is the real one?"_

Sakura smiled as she directed chakra to her feet and sped in front of Ino's widened eyes, causing Ino to lose track of her and get a punch in the face. "If you think that I am the same cry-baby Sakura, then you will be hurting. Get serious, Ino!"

"I'm glad you said that." Ino said as she wiped her cheek, "As you wish, here I come…"

"Hmph, looks like she is using that exercise we learned in Wave in spades. After all, she is the best one on our team when it comes to chakra control." Ishide commented. Lee gripped his fist as he thought, _"Beautiful movement, Sakura-san…"_

Sakura and Ino were struggling in a stand-still as Ishide said, "Although Sakura has gotten stronger with her stamina, Ino has been training as well…they look evenly matched and it is possible that they may beat themselves to a standstill."

"No way! Sakura-chan will win this!"

"Sakura is at a disadvantage; she is against Ino, who has access to her clan jutsu, the Shintenshin no Jutsu. If she finds some way to trap her, she is done, but on the bright side, Sakura is quick and she can think on her feet almost as fast as you, Naruto." Kakashi said logically.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were still going at it and Ino shouted, "There is no way you could be even with me!" Sakura retorted hotly, "Heh, of course! How could I be even someone who worries about growing their hair and looking pretty?"

"You! You better stop disrespecting me!"

"Idiot! Letting that trash talk get to you, I don't know what she's gonna do." Shikamaru chided.

"I don't like that Ino…" Choji commented fearfully. Ino took her kunai and cut off her ponytail while Sakura chuckled, "Hehe, so simple…" The Yamanaka casted her hair to the floor and said, "I don't need this! I am going to end this right now, I will make you say 'Give up' from your very own mouth."

"That hand sign?!" Shikamaru stared at Ino in disbelief. Choji said, "It can't be…"

"I can sympathize with your desperation, but that is useless…" Sakura said.

"Bah, we will see about that." Ino replied.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu…a Jutsu known only to the Yamanaka clan by using your spiritual energy and projecting at an opponent, you can take control over their body for a few minutes, but the downside is that spiritual projection moves at a slow pace and if you miss, your body will be an inanimate doll for a few minutes, leaving you vulnerable."

"So what?! We won't know until we try!"

Suddenly there was silence in the air and Sakura moved to the side while Ino shouted, "**Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu!" **Both bodies stopped and their heads hung in the air as Shikamaru asked himself, "Which one?"

"Hehe, too bad…Ino." Sakura said, then the girl tried to move, but she looked down to see that she was caught in Ino's hair. "You fell for it, Sakura…it was all an act, this is a special rope using my hair and chakra. Now since you can't move at the moment, I will be ending this duel…**Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu!**"

This time, Sakura's psyche was suppressed by Ino's own and Ino/Sakura raised her hand as she said, "I, Haruno Sakura, would like to…" Naruto suddenly shouted, "Sakura-chan, don't give up!" Ino looked at Naruto as she thought, _"He is so annoying…"_

"If you lose to that Sasuke idiot, you are not a woman….you have come so far."

Ishide said, "Naruto, it is useless…there is nothing that you can do at all. Hmph, all of that training I wasted on her for nothing and she can't even beat Ino. That is sad, I guess that she is not worthy of having Sasuke's heart at all."

Naruto grabbed Ishide from his sitting position, "Don't you dare…"But then he noticed the smirk on Ishide's face and he instantly got it registered in his mind, "You sneaky little brother of mine, you are so lucky that I love you."

"_What is he smiling about? It is all useless…"_ Ino thought, and then she felt a shiver run down her spine. _"What? This sensation…."_

"_Geez, Naruto is so annoying and note to self, kill Ishide when I get up there…but they are both right, I can't lose here, there is too much at stake here."_

"_What? Sakura!? No way…" _Ino/Sakura thought as she clutched at her head. Hayate asked, "Hey, what's the matter? Do you want to forfeit or not?" Sakura took control as she shouted, "Like hell I'll forfeit!" The proctor thought, _"Which one is in control now?"_

Ino thought, _"No way?! My jutsu failed!" _Then the inner Sakura grabbed Ino and began to squeeze her, _"Ino, if you don't get the hell out of my body, I swear to Kami you will be sorry."_ Shikamaru then said, "Huh? What is wrong with Ino?"

Ino released the jutsu and the two opponents reanimated, breathing hard. "You have two minds, what are you?" Ino asked. Her rival replied, "Don't you know, women have to be tough to survive or they will not making out in the real world."

Soon the two got up once again for one last hit as they charged at each other, thinking, _"This is…the end!"_ The punches knocked off their headbands and the two skidded away from each other, Hayate waited for a moment for the two get up and declared, "Both fighters are unable to battle, thus the 4th match will be a double knockout, neither advances…"

"_Looks like even Sakura has gotten a little stronger as well…many things have happened, but I am glad that I entered them in the Chunin Exams…"_ Kakashi thought to himself.

**Ishide's Mindscape-** Nekoshi cracked open an eye as he said, **"Ishide? What are you doing here? I appreciate that you have come to talk to me after you have been ignoring for…wait, you aren't Ishide, what are you doing here?"**

"I am here to reclaim what is rightfully mine, this body…so I can finish what I have started. Now that the damned Uchiha is gone, I will be able to slaughter this village to the ground like I always wanted and you are going to help me call my weaker self, so I can obliterate him completely." The figure said with an eerie smile.

Then he lifted his head up back and laughed….


	7. Grudge Battles

**Chapter 7-Grudge Battles**

The board flashed to reveal the new fighters, who were Tenten and Temari, the Konoha girl smirked with confidence to be in the finals and she walked down the stairs to face Temari, who was wearing a confident smirk of her own on her face. "Are the contestants ready?"

Lee shouted, "Good luck, Tenten…"

Neji murmured, "Now…the second member of the Sand Team, this could be interesting."

Both of the kunoichis nodded in confirmation and Hayate chopped down his hand, "Now **Match 5:** Tenten versus Sabaku no Temari…begin."

Tenten and Temari both jumped back to get some distance between each other, the weapons mistress threw kunai at the wind mistress, but Temari gathered wind-natured chakra to block the kunai away from her.

Tenten said, "What? But that attack was right on."

Ishide thought, _"She is using wind manipulation…bad matchup for Tenten. She has absolutely no chance in winning unless she has a fire jutsu. Since Gai never utilizes ninjutsu in respect of Lee and Tenten desperately wants to be a weapons specialist, Senpai may lose this one."_

Temari unclasped her fan and opened it up to reveal a purple moon on the fan. "This is the first moon, girl. When you see all three, the match will be over."

Tenten gritted her teeth as she racked her brain, _"How is she doing that? She is not using any hand signs or nothing, but yet my attacks can get through."_

Tenten ran at Temari and threw kunai at all directions as she thought, "_This should work."_ But again the attack failed and Temari swung her fan to blow back Tenten and her weapons. "You are on the second moon, sister. Look, it's over, your weapons aren't effective against my style, which has been proven twice." Temari said.

Tenten unclasped the two scrolls on her hips and Lee said quietly, "Tenten….you are not thinking of using that technique, aren't you?"

Tenten thought, _"I have no choice, this move should be able to pierce that wind defense of hers….I can't lose here, there is someone that I want to fight here."_ Tenten placed the two scrolls apart from each other and bit her thumb, drawing blood. "Well, like they always say the third time is the charm! **Soshoryu!"** she shouted.

The two scrolls burst and twirled around Tenten, she flew up and levitated in the middle. She grabbed one of the scrolls in air and began to flip in around her until the scroll unfurled around her. Then she swiped her blood on the markings, making various weapons popped out in existence.

Just then Sakura woke up and Ino said, "You are finally awake, huh, Sakura?" Sakura looked down sadly, "I…lost." Her rival chuckled a bit, "Pft, I should be the one who wants to cry…to tie with the likes of you."

"Huh?"

Ino said nothing, then she handed Sakura her headband with a smile, "Here…by the way, you did make it bloom into a beautiful flower, Sakura…" Sakura whispered, "Ino…" Then she smiled and happily tied her headband to hold her hair back.

"But next time we fight, you won't come out of it with just being knocked out and plus…I have absolutely no intention of handing Sasuke-kun over to you." Ino said slyly.

"That line…I return it back to you!"

They began a lightning staring match and then turned away with their heads to the other side and their arms crossed.

Then Tenten threw the weapons one by one at Temari, who swung her fan to make the weapons blow off course and stab or fall on the ground around her. Tenten smirked and brought her hands back to her body and to everyone's surprise, the weapons came back to her.

Kakashi thought, _"Very clever, she used wires to attack to the weapons….clever girl that Gai got."_

Temari said, "Sorry, today is not your day….you lose, princess." Temari swung her fan while shouting, **"Ninpou: Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"** The weapons were blown back once again and Tenten was trapped in a wind cyclone, where she was slashed up by invisible blades of wind.

Tenten fell to the ground and Temari let her fall onto her fan's blunt end. "No way…" Lee whispered and then Neji commented, "Tenten's weapon attacks…were rendered useless."

"How boring." Temari commented.

"What is up with her?" Naruto asked and Hiruzen thought, "_The genin from the Sand…are dangerous this year."_ Next, Temari smirked as Hayate declared her the winner and she moved to throw Tenten away, but Ishide moved to catch her.

"Nice catch…" Temari said, but Ishide didn't reply as he set Tenten down gingerly and then he glared at Temari, "If you ever do that to another opponent again, I swear…you will not be swinging that fan of yours once I am done ripping your arms apart."

Temari visibly flinched as she thought, _"Those eyes…there are just like Gaara's…" _The Sand girl scoffed and tried to play cool, but she slightly shivered as she felt those cold eyes on his back as she walked up the stairs.

Then Hayate had several ninjas take Tenten's scrolls to seal back her weapons into them, then the board flashed to reveal the next fighters, which were Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi. The lazy genius sighed, "Me, huh?"

Soon the two opponents faced each other and Shikamaru commented, "Man, this sucks...plus it is tough fighting against a girl." Kin sneered as she said, "Then I will end it quickly…" Shikamaru's blond teammate cheered, "Don't lose, Shikamaru!"

"_She is sure cheerful…"_ Choji thought as he looked at her. Shikamaru thought as he stared at Kin, "Well, this is quite a predicament, I have no idea what her abilities are, but on the bright side, she doesn't know mine and I only have one jutsu."

"**Match 6:** Shikamaru Nara versus Kin Tsuchi." Hayate shouted, "You may begin!"

Shikamaru thought as he made the Rat seal, _"This is all I have…_ **Kagemane no Jutsu!**" His shadow grew and shot toward Kin, who dodged it as she thought, "_Whatever that jutsu does, I really don't want to know what he will do."_

"Damn it, Kagemane no Jutsu…"

Kin thought, "_He did it again, which possibly means that it is the only jutsu in his arsenal."_ She declared, "You are a one trick pony, aren't you? All I have to do is watch your shadow and I will have nothing to fear at all!"

She launched senbon at Shikamaru, who ducked under them and heard a sound from behind. He turned briefly to see that bells were attached to the end and he smirked, "That is an old trick. Next, you will throw one with a bell and the other without one, making me dodge the first one when I react to the sound and don't notice the second one...stab, right?"

Kin replied, "You sure like to talk!"

"This should be easy enough, just avoid the needles…" Suddenly the male ninja heard something behind him and he turned to see that there was string attached to the previous bells. "Crap, she was using the string to ring the bells."

"Too late!" Kin shouted as she threw her designated throwing weapons and Shikamaru fell to the ground as he was struck by it. "If I dodge your shadow, there is nothing that you can do! And now for the coup de grace…" The kunoichi said with a cruel smirk.

Suddenly her body struggled to move as she tried to figure out what was going on and Shikamaru got up with a grin on his face, "Kagemane no Jutsu success!"

"What are you talking about? I don't see your shadow anywhere?!"

"You haven't noticed yet?" Shikamaru said as he yanked out the senbon from his shoulder and arm.

"No way…"

"Exactly, idiot! A string at that height can't produce a shadow! I can lengthen, shrink and freely control my shadow though there is a limit."

"_Damn it!"_ She thought, _"The shadow is getting fatter and fatter, so this wasn't the shadow of the string."_

"Yup! I made my shadow really skinny to make it look like it was being cast by the string and attached it to you." Shikamaru said as he took out a shuriken from his holster, making Kin do the same and she shouted in protest, "Are you crazy?! Both of us are locked in the same movements, if you attack, you will get hurt too!"

"Tell me something I don't know…"

"You aren't…"

"We will keep throwing shurikens to see how long we can last!" Shikamaru said as he launched his throwing star. "You fool!" Kin said as she released her own. As the shuriken came closer and closer to their head, Kin thought, _"Bah! He is just bluffing…"_

She suddenly put her body in a back bend to have her head slammed into the wall and Shikamaru said, "Heh, one down…If you are a shinobi, then you should fight with the knowledge of your surroundings even if we move the same. The shuriken was just a ploy to keep you from noticing how close you were to the wall."

"Winner: Shikamaru Nara!" declared Hayate.

Kiba thought, _"Okay, the guys left are that other Sound Nin, me, Hinata, Naruto, Ishide, Kabuto, Neji, Lee, Choji and that team of Ame…oh, and that Sand guy. Please, but anyone but him…"_

Neji glanced over at Hinata, "This year's rookies will be fun to fight against…" Hayate said as the scoreboard flashed, "Now the next match…" It revealed the next two names, which were Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka.

"Yes! It's here! It's here! Finally, it's about…" Naruto began to shout until Ishide slapped him lightly on the head, "Would you shut up and go down to fight already? Sometimes I wondered if you are my brother even though I look like you."

"Haha, lucky! We can definitely beat him, Akamaru!" Kiba declared and his dog barked in agreement. Ishide whispered, "Knock him down hard, Naruto…" The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki nodded and said, "You got it, Aniki, it is time to show you how strong I am…"

"**Match 7:** Naruto Uzumaki versus Kiba Inuzuka…"

"Hyahahahaha! It looks like we won already! We are so lucky, Akamaru!" Kiba declared and Naruto retorted, "Shut the hell up! Besides I am stronger than I look, Kiba…and it is disappointing that you need a small puppy to help in a fight."

"Hah, acting all tough, then I will do this." Kiba said, "Akamaru, stay back…I will fight alone."

Sakura shouted, "Don't lose to him, Naruto!" Kurenai glanced, "Naruto, eh? Sorry, Kakashi, but he can't beat Kiba…"

"Don't underestimate my brother, Miss Kurenai…" the Genjutsu Mistress looked over to see Ishide glance at her, "Don't play it off like I didn't see that look on your face, grades don't prove shit when it comes to fighting."

"You know what? I feel sorry for you, so I will end it with one punch…"

"You can try if you can…"

"Stop acting all tough!"

Hayate shouted, "Begin!" Kiba immediately said, **"Ninpou: Shikyaku no Jutsu!"** Kiba's body was laced with chakra and he became more feral than usual. "Here I come…" Kiba declared before he sped toward the Uzumaki and hit him in the stomach.

"He won't be opening his eyes for a while, referee." Kiba boasted and Shikamaru said, "I knew it."

Ino said, "There is no way that Naruto could beat Kiba…"

Kurenai said, "See…" The young Uzumaki kept his smirk up and the Jonin was surprised to see Naruto get up and said, "You know, that actually tickles a bit…but you shouldn't underestimate me, Kiba." Shikamaru thought, _"Those are some big words now!"_

"Saying that as you bleed? I thought I told you to stop acting so tough!" Kiba shouted and Akamaru agreed with a bark. "The thing is that I let you hit me to test the power of your blows and that little shot is not going to do me in like you planned. Matter of fact, I think it would suit you best to use your dog to help you out, you should be the one to stop acting tough."

"I will make you regret that…let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba shouted as he rummaged in his pouch and threw a smoke ball. Naruto flipped through hand signs quickly, **"Futon: Reppusho!"** A blast of wind came from his arm and blew away the smoke, launching Akamaru back and in turn, making Kiba turn only to provide Naruto a punch to the face.

"Surprised? I told you my brother is stronger than you think…"

"That may be, but Kiba's growth may be greater than your brother's…"

The Uzumaki crossed his arms, "Now are you going to get serious or should I just kick your ass all the way to Kumo?" Kiba got up and said, "Fine…you asked for it." The Inuzuka took out a soldier pill and gave it to Akamaru, whose fur turned red.

"What the hell?! What did you give him?"

"A soldier pill…" Kiba answered as he ate one himself and said, "Let's go, Akamaru!" Kurenai narrowed her eyes, _"Kiba intends to end it here…"_ Akamaru barked out a few times and his human partner shouted, **"Beast Mimicry: Ninpou: Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Instantly Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba and Naruto said, "Alright, I really don't like that look in his eyes." Kiba declared, "Here we go! **Ninpou: Shikyaku no Jutsu!**" The two Kibas sprang at Naruto, who took the time to dodge them only to get by with lacerations.

"_Damn it, they are not giving me any options to use jutsu. Note to self: step up my speed hand sign training." _

"Take this! **Gatsuuga!**" Kiba shouted as the two animals ripped through Naruto by turning into human drills. The Jinchuuriki fell to the ground, bleeding while Kiba landed as he said, "That is the difference between our abilities." Hinata shut her eyes as she couldn't bear to watch Naruto in pain.

"I…Hokage…can't lose here…" Naruto said as he struggled to get up. Kiba mocked him, "Hah, you become Hokage?! Even when you can't beat me?! You don't actually believe that you can become Hokage, but I tell you what? I will become Hokage in your place."

Ishide winced, "Och, he shouldn't have done that…now he is going to get it."

Hinata thought, _"You are wrong, Kiba…Naruto-kun isn't that weak. Unlike me, he always believed in his self-worth, I really thought that was incredible because I understand how difficult that is…yet nobody would even look at Naruto or even tried to acknowledge him….but as of this moment, everyone that is watching him is acknowledging him."_

"Get up, Nii-san…" Ishide shouted.

"I got it, aniki…as for you, Kiba, if you are competing for the title of Hokage…I am going to beat you like a whipped dog and put you on a leash."

"Give it a rest! **Gatsuuga!**"

Naruto dodged it this time and thought, _"This technique is way too fast for me to counter, so…looks like I am going to have to resort to pranking." _

"**Gatsuuga!" **

Naruto made a hand sign and as the smoke cleared, there were not two Kibas anymore, but three. _"Looks like this is going to be difficult for Kiba, he can't risk hitting Akamaru and vice versa, but Naruto knows which one is which, so he could attack. But what is your next move?"_ Ishide thought to himself.

"So that is your plan, but I should warn you about something. Earlier, I wasn't focusing and didn't notice last time, but the Henge doesn't work on me anymore because…" Kiba said as he punched the clone on his left, "Of you smell…never underestimate an acute olfactory."

"_Kiba can focus his chakra to his nose and increase his smelling by a thousand fold and of course with it, he can tell people apart by smell."_ Kurenai thought to herself and Kiba said, "Heh, I won." Suddenly the clone disappeared into a puff of smoke to reveal…Akamaru. Shino thought, "What is going on?! Kiba's nose confused Akamaru and Naruto…"

Kiba thought, _"Damn it, what the hell?!"_ Then he punched the other one as he shouted, "You must be Naruto, then take that!" The other Kiba skidded across the floor and it disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal Akamaru.

"_What?"_

"_Oh no!"_ Kurenai thought to herself and Ishide chuckled, "Excellent prank, Naruto…" The other Akamaru disappeared and changed back into Naruto, who delivered a kick to the chin, making Kiba fall back toward Akamaru.

"Was Naruto that clever?" Ino asked.

"_Although the Academy tried to hinder our abilities, Naruto comes through with his unique ability to think of elaborate plans on the fly. That is Naruto's strength, along with his determination as well." _Ishide thought.

Then he felt a pull on his mind and fell into a meditative state to travel into his mindscape.

"_Calm down, Kiba…don't get caught into Naruto's plan. He can't keep up with my movements that much now, so I wait for an opening and take him down with my Shikyaku no Jutsu. If I stay cool, I can win this match."_ the Inuzuka thought to himself.

"Well, it looks like you are serious now…so I guess that I can end this match with a new jutsu." Naruto said as he flipped through hand signs, but Kiba stopped him by throwing shuriken, "I don't know what your new technique is, but I will not let you use it."

Naruto dodged the shurikens while Kiba ran at him with his Shikyaku no Jutsu in effect and appeared behind him, "Too slow…" Naruto thought, _"Sorry, Kiba…Akamaru, but a ninja…must use all openings."_ Kiba attacked only for Naruto to use the Kawarimi on Akamaru, making the dog take the hit.

Then Naruto shouted, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Kiba looked up as he got out of shock as one clone hit him in the face with a punch, **"U…"** The three came up and slid to kick him in the air, **"Zu…Ma…Ki…"** The real one that flipped into the air when the first clone punched him came down with an axe kick, **"Naruto Barrage!"**

Kiba fell to the ground, unconscious and Hayate came over to Kiba's fallen form, "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!" Ishide smirked while Sakura and Lee cheered, "Go, Naruto!"

Shikamaru said, "That Naruto beat Kiba!" Naruto gripped his fist and walked up the stairs while Hinata thought to herself in a panic, _"W-What should I do?"_ Then she said meekly, "N-Naruto-kun…"

"Hmm? Yeah, Hinata?"

"Here…"

"Thanks…it was nice seeing you again."

Hinata smiled as she twiddled with her fingers and Neji thought in mild anger, _"Pft…you seem to be enjoying yourself, Hinata-sama."_ Then Hinata went to give Kiba and Akamaru the same cream, but Kiba said, "You should be worrying about yourself…listen, Hinata, there are 7 people left. If you get that Sand guy, forfeit immediately and also if you get Neji as well, forfeit too…he is cruel to you and you will get beaten to a pulp."

Hayate said, "Now let's announce the eighth match…" The scoreboard flashed to reveal Hinata Hyuga was facing against Neji Hyuga. "Damn…" Kiba said as he passed out and the medics took him away. Sarutobi thought, _"What an interesting match-up…"_

Neji and Hinata faced each other. Neji spoke first, "I never thought that I would be facing you." Hinata replied quietly, "Neji-nii-san." Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Never knew that Hinata had a brother." Kakashi replied, "That is because they aren't related like that, Naruto…they are members of the Hyuga clan, but they are not brother and sister."

Sakura asked the silver-haired jonin, "So then…what are they?" Kakashi said, "They are members of the Hyuga's Main and Branch Houses." Lee said, "Hinata is part of the Main House, while Neji is in the Branch House."

Sakura asked, "So why does Neji look mad at her for?"

Lee said, "Many things happened between both houses and they are at odds right now."

Naruto said, "Hinata would not dare hurt her cousin, but Neji will. This is a bad match-up if he does anything serious."

Hayate shouted, "**Match 8:** Hinata Hyuga vs. Neji Hyuga…begin!"

Neji said, "Before we begin, I like to speak freely, Hinata-sama….you don't make a good shinobi, forfeit the match." Hinata's eyes widened and she looked to the side.

Neji continued, "You are too kind, you wish for peace and avoid conflict…you agree with others, never resisting. You have no confidence in yourself and the Chunin Exam could be taken as a team of three…you couldn't turn down the request, couldn't you?"

Hinata said, "N-No, I w-wanted to change myself…do something on my own." Neji said, "As I thought….Hinata-sama, you are a spoiled brat of the Main Family. People can't change themselves, losers will always be losers. Their personality and strength can't change at all."

Naruto frowned as he thought, "_I don't like him."_

The destiny jackass continued, "Because people can't change, differences were born and the terms loser and elite were created. Looks, brains, personality, ability, size…all people judge and are judged in these values. Based on these unchangeable factors, people discriminate and are discriminated against and then they suffer under their own means. Just like the fact that you were born in the Main Family and I in the Branch."

Neji said, "I can see through you with my Byakugan…you are acting strong, but really you want to run and hide." 

Hinata retorted feebly, "N-No, I really…"

Sakura said, "What is the Byakugan?"

Kakashi said, "In terms of insight, it surpasses the Sharingan. There are rumors that the Uchiha clan originates from the Hyuga clan."

Neji activated the Byakugan for an intimidation tactic, making Hinata's eye move in the upper left corner, then the lower right corner and she touched her pointer finger to her mouth.

Neji smirked smugly, "Like I said, I can see through. Your eye went up to the upper left meaning you are remembering your painful past, then in the lower right, that is a sign that you are imagining physical and mental pain…you are imagining that you are going to lose!"

Hinata flinched, raising her arms as Neji continued, "Raising your arms in front of yourself means that you are trying to distance yourself from me because everything that I predicted was true. Furthermore, touching your lip is a personality trait that reveals a disturbance; you are trying to soften the nervousness that you feel. So in basic reality, you haven't realized that you can't change your fate!"

"Yes, SHE CAN!" a voice shouted and everyone turned to see that it was from Ishide.

Ishide declared loudly, "You can't just automatically decide things about other people, you don't have that power, you arrogant ass! Geez, I know that the Hyuga clan with the exception of Hinata have icicles up their asses, but I never thought that it was that bad. Hinata, beat the shit out of this guy or at least talk about to him, just hearing him is pissing me off and you are the one that is fighting him."

"_He is annoying…"_ Neji immediately decreed in his mind.

Then the Hyuga jackass looked at Hinata, her eyes filled with determination, "So you won't forfeit, then I will not be responsible for what happens here." Hinata activated her Byakugan as she thought, "_I will not run away…I will no longer…run away!"_

The Hyuga heiress then slipped into the Hyuga stance, "Neji-niisan, let's fight!" Neji slipped into the same stance, "Fine..." Both of them charged at each other. Lee said, "I thought so, their stances are similar to each other, the same Hyuga style." Sakura said, "Hyuga style?" Lee answered, "That style…is the strongest taijutsu.

Hinata and Neji fiercely battled and mesmerized the audience with the deadly dance of death. Hinata's flexibility against Neji's knowledge and control of chakra were clashed between each other, each trying to overpower and gained the upper hand. Then Hinata saw an opening and aimed her chakra at Neji's torso, catching a scratch on him.

Neji stepped back, clutching his chest, "Ugh!"

Naruto smiled, "Go, Hinata, you kick his ass. Prove to him that you are not weak." He said quietly as he watched her.

Sakura said, "But she only barely hit him."

Lee said, "That is the thing…a slight scratch is all it takes. That is all it needs."

Sakura said, "Explain, Lee-kun."

Gai stepped in, "The Hyuga style taijutsu has been passed down. The taijutsu Lee and I use, Goken, is solely for bruises and breaking bones while the Hyuga style, Juken, causes damage to the chakra network. It may not look impressive, but you feel the aftereffects as the battle progresses." Hinata fought, pressuring Neji to go on the defensive.

Shino thought, "_Hinata's in control of the battle…Naruto, you actually gave her the confidence to stand up for herself and now I am seeing the true Hinata Hyuga."_

Kurenai thought, _"Hinata…"_

Sakura said, "So they attack the chakra network system."

Kakashi said, "Anybody can utilize this style by knowing the anatomy of the body well, but their Byakugan helps them perfect the style…since they can see the chakra network." Hinata and Neji jumped back from a moment and clashed into. "Did she get him?" Sakura said loudly. Hinata coughed up blood, shocking everyone. Neji said, "So this is the extent of the Main Family household."

Hinata thought as she knocked Neji's arm away and aimed at his head, _"Not yet!"_ Neji's eyes widened as he quickly reacted by grabbing her arm and pressing a point. Then he pulled back her sleeves to show red dot-like bruises on her arms. "No way…from the beginning, you…"Hinata said.

"Exactly, I have stopped your flow of chakra in your arms. You can no longer utilize the Jyuken style against me, it was fated that you will lose." Hinata was knocked back in the chest and she skidded a few feet away from him.

She struggled to get up as Neji said, "Hinata-sama, there is a difference in talent that will never change between us…the difference that makes you the loser and me the elite. This reality cannot be changed, from the moment you said you did not want to run, you were setting yourself up for regret, you should be overcome with desperation. Forfeit!"

As that moment, Hinata stood up, "I…don't…go back…on my word…because that is also my nindo…my ninja way."Naruto smirked as he thought, _"Whoa, she is awesome, heh, go get him, Hinata!"_The Kyuubi jailer cheered, "Go get him, Hinata, show him what you can do."

"_She is at her limit…any more damage and she'll…"_ Kurenai thought in panic.

Kakashi said, _"This Neji is quite formidable…I doubt that Sasuke will be able to beat him."_

Gai thought, _"She can't defeat him…Neji would most likely survive this test."_ Gaara looked intently at the fight, who knew what thoughts were going through his unstable mind.

Hinata looked up at Naruto and the Jinchuuriki smiled and nodded. The heiress then charged at her cousin. She thought, _"Naruto-kun, Ishide-san…I have always watched you two for years. I don't know why, but when I look at you two, I feel like I can do anything. I feel courage…I feel like I am worth something, that is how I began to feel."_ Neji blocked her arm and raised his palm to plant a strike to the chin. She skidded back only to charge at him once again.

Kurenai thought_, "Hinata…you used to always quit…I know better than anyone else about the tough training you put yourself into. You would fail missions and were weak when it mattered the most, eventually losing your confidence quickly. But…that child is no more because the woman I see has changed._"

Hinata thought to herself, _"I have always watched you, Naruto-kun, Ishide…but now you are the ones watching me."_

Neji attacked Hinata in the chest as he said, "You understand nothing, your attacks have done nothing since the beginning."

Hayate was about to declare the match to Neji until Naruto shouted, "She is not done yet, don't stop the match…" Sakura cried out, "What are you saying, you idiot? She is at her limit, she is unconscious…"

"Sakura…" Naruto started, "If you truly agreed that Hinata is a lot like me…then you should realized that I am not one to quit that easily." Everyone gasped as Hinata stood up with her arm wrapped around her stomach.

"Why…Why do you persist on standing? If you keep on pushing yourself, you will die." Neji asked.

Hinata thought, _"Because the people that I admire the most are finally watching me."_

The Hyuga princess declared, "It's not over!"

Neji scoffed, "Acting touch is futile, I can see that you can barely stand at all. From the time of your birth, the responsibilities of the Main Family were pressed upon you. You have always hated your weakness, but people can't change Fate. There is no need to suffer, so let it go!"

Hinata replied softly, but strongly, "You are wrong, Neji…because that person that is suffering and lost in the destinies of the Main and Branch families is actually you." Suddenly something snapped within Neji and he ran at her, only for him to be stopped by Kurenai, Kakashi, Hayate and Gai.

"Neji, give it a rest…you gave me your word that you would keep a cool head over this Main Family business." Gai said and Neji retorted, "Why are the other Jonin butting in? Special protection for the Main Family…"

Suddenly Hinata kneeled to the ground, coughing up blood. "Hinata!" Kurenai shouted in concern as she ran to her while Naruto, Sakura and Lee jumped down to Hinata's side. "Hinata! Hey, are you all right?!" Naruto shouted.

"She doesn't look good." Sakura said, "Her face is so pale."

Hinata struggled to keep her eyes open as she thought, "Naruto-kun…I-I wonder…if maybe I managed to change…just a little bit." Naruto gulped and then Neji called out, "Hey…the loser over there. I like to tell you two things. If you are a real shinobi, then cut out the pathetic cheering of others and another thing, a loser is a loser…they can't change!"

Naruto got up slowly and glared at him, "Care to test me?" Neji smirked and the Jinchuuriki ran at him only to be stopped by Lee, "Naruto, I understand how you feel, but we have to limit our battles to the scheduled fights. Having seen the failure strike down and defeat a genius through sheer willpower, now won't that make an exciting match. But if it is you in the end, that it is fine too…" The Genin said.

"Fine…alright."

"_How was that, Gai-sensei?"_ Lee thought as he sent him a thumb-up and a sparkling smile. _"Lee, you amazing kid!" _Gai thought as he returned the gesture.

Kurenai moved her head to her heart and thought, "_She is going into cardiac arrest..."_ She turned to glare at Neji as she thought, _"He really intended to kill her."_

"Instead of wasting time scowling at me, you should focus on taking care of her." The male Hyuga said with a smirk.

Kurenai shouted, "Where are those medics? Hurry!" A voice said, "That won't be necessary…"

The female Jonin said, "She is in cardiac arrest…what do you mean by there is no need for anything." She turned to see Ishide with tears in his eyes and he whispered, "Trust me; I know what I am doing…" He flipped through hand signs, "**Sakasa Kagami no Jutsu…**" He placed a hand on Hinata's stomach and a pale blue aura surrounded both Ishide and Hinata.

Hinata's face returned back to her color and Kurenai looked at Ishide gratefully, "Thank you…but I have never seen a jutsu like that before." Ishide smiled, "Of course, you haven't…because I made this jutsu, the Reverse Mirror Jutsu."

Kurenai said, "Reverse Mirror?" Then she saw blood coming out of the corners of Ishide's mouth, "This jutsu switches the person's current situation. Hinata's internal damage is now on my body instead of hers, she will be fine now."

"You…"

Ishide grinned as he took Hinata's headband from her neck and gave his own while he tied Hinata's own on his forehead. He stood up for a moment and his fist clenched a bit as his anger and rage took over, he secretly released his weights and appeared in front of Neji, who was surprised.

Ishide cocked back his fist and decked him across the face, sending him into Gai's chest. "You…for what you did to Hinata, I will never forgive you…you are so lucky that your match is over, but if you face me, you are going to die ever so slowly. I am going to carve my name into your beating heart as I ripped those eyes of yours from your sockets, Neji Hyuga…so pray and pray hard for I will kill you."

The young Uzumaki left as he held his stomach a bit, and then left to go up the stairs. Kankuro thought, _"How the hell did he reach that Neji guy that fast? Well, at least, we know that there are two monsters here, but ours has an inner nature that is uniquely bad."_

Gaara began to quiver and shake, his face contorted into a twisted smile. "This is bad, Gaara's smelled blood and now that thing is starting to fidget…that demon that lives within him, but that Neji guy…you'd think he still has hidden reserves of strength, we've got to plan for the finals. Maybe I should gather some Intel, Naruto's an idiot, but he's a good place to start."

Kankuro walked towards Naruto, who asked, "What do you want, makeup boy?"

"_Ohh, you're so dead when I get the chance."_ Kankuro thought, but he said, "Well, you see…it's about that Neji guy." Naruto said, "I don't like him and I think that Ishide is really going to kill him." Hayate said, "Now for the next match…"

The screen flashed to reveal Ishide Uzumaki and Daisuke Kamura. "Will the contestants come down?" Hayate asked. Daisuke moved down, but Ishide said, "Hokage-sama…" Sarutobi replied, "What is it, Ishide?"

"Would it be too much to ask for a second opponent?"

Everyone murmured at the younger Uzumaki's request. The Jonin form the Rain team turned to the Hokage, "Surely you must silence this upstart with his unreasonable request." Ishide fired back, "Oh, so are you proving the rumor that ninjas hailing from Rain are weak as well as cowards?"

The Jonin growled at Ishide, "No, I am proving that they are smart enough to avoid petty battles and you are proving that your village is very arrogant." Ishide retorted, "Judging by the fact that Konoha is one of the Five Great Countries while Ame is just a minor country as well as very secretive, we have every right to be confident or in your words, arrogant."

"You little shit!" Daisuke shouted, "I am going to enjoy tearing you into pieces!"

"_Got you, you idiot…"_ Ishide thought with a smirk. "Then what you have to lose? With an opponent of your choice that hasn't fought, it is a two-on-one battle. Plus it gets that extra, pointless match out of the way."

"Ishide…" Kakashi said.

"Back off, Hatake…you will not interfere in this matter."

The Jonin continued, "I have to, Ishide, your opponent is chosen already. I know that you are angry, but it doesn't mean that you can make a ridiculous request." Daisuke said, "No…I like his idea, it is much faster and efficient, it allows the other person to show off his or her attacks."

Kakashi was about to speak again, but Kurenai clasped his shoulder, "Kakashi, don't say anything…"

"But…"

"Look at him…something has changed within that boy, I can't explain it, but I just know that he will win his match…he has to. Plus he needs this to work off some steam and this is the best option, you know, firsthand, that his anger could possibly trigger that monster in his head."

Kakashi looked at Ishide and saw that the Genin was still shaking in anger, but his stance is confident. _"Nekoshi, how is my body now?"_ the Genin asked.

"**It is now in peak condition, but you will have to be careful of overexerting yourself…don't overdo it."**

"_What is he trying to prove?"_ Neji thought, _"Unless he wants to prove that he can defy fate by defeating me…it seems that by striking down Lady Hinata critically has made him angry and unfocused."_

Sakura pleaded with Ishide by grabbing his arm, "Ishide, you can't do this…" He glanced at her, "This is none of your concern, Sakura…" The Haruno replied as tears started to fall, "I know that you are angry over Hinata, but if you fight two people at once with your injuries from that jutsu, you could die…there is a chance that you might die."

Ishide smirked and chuckled a bit, "Wow, I didn't think that you were capable of actually caring about someone other than Sasuke." The pink-haired kunoichi put her head down, but then her male teammate turned around and hugged her, "Thanks for caring…but this is something that I gotta do, how far I gotten and this is also personal…"

"You like her, don't you?" Sakura whispered lowly.

Ishide didn't reply, but his eyes revealed everything. Ino commented, "What is he doing? Is he trying to get himself killed?" Shino replied, "If you knew how he feels, then maybe you would understand better, Ino-san."

"What?"

"Ishide hardly ever made any conversation to anyone except Iruka-sensei, Naruto and occasionally Hinata. He cares about them deeply more than any of us though he tries his best to hide it. When you brutally attacked a friend, you will do everything in your power to seek retribution. That is what Ishide is looking for and he is fixing to use his opponents as an example of what he is going to Neji and he might as well show his power."

Shikamaru said, "Looks like we are going to see the darker side of Ishide and it doesn't look like it is going to be pretty…for his opponent, that is." Ishide thought to himself, _"I have to do this…are you ready, Nekoshi…"_

**Flashback-** _Ishide came into his mindscape and evil laughter echoes throughout it, __"Why, hello, Ishide…"__ the voice said, __"Did you miss me?"_

"_Hello, Nanashi…"_

_A boy in the image of Ishide walked from the darkness of the shadows, __"You didn't think that I couldn't keep me trapped in that seal forever."__ Nanashi said evilly._

"_Of course not, I had to buy myself some time, you know, couldn't have you taking over my body and going on a rampage like last time. Now where is Nekoshi and how did you get out without me detecting you?"_

_Nanashi replied, __"I will tell you if you can defeat me…"_

_Ishide sighed, "I have no choice?" _

_Nanashi cocked his head to the side in a mock thinking pose, __"Hmm, let's see, you allowed that fool of a Hokage to seal me away for six years, Ishide. Six years, so you couldn't kill anyone without going berserk and now that damned Uchiha is gone, there is no one left to stop and…I have a way to break you."_

_Nanashi snapped his fingers and a screen popped up, __"Right now, your precious Hinata is being intimidated by her cousin!" __Ishide thought, "That is the dude that asked for my name…Neji Hyuga." Nanashi said, __"The only way to get back to reality is to defeat me…" _

_Ishide heard Neji's harsh words against Hinata and he thought, "Yes, she can! Yes, she can! Yes, SHE CAN!" Suddenly Ishide heard his mouth cry out in the real world and thought, "If I can think hard enough, I can project my thoughts in the real world."_

_He shut his eyes as he thought, "You can't just automatically decide things about other people, you don't have that power, you arrogant ass! Geez, I know that the Hyuga clan with the exception of Hinata have icicles up their asses, but I never thought that it was that bad. Hinata, beat the shit out of this guy or at least talk about to him, just hearing him is pissing me off and you are the one that is fighting him."_

_He opened his eyes and watched as Hinata lifted her head and began to fight Neji, "Hold on, Hinata….I will come back for you." The boy thought as he took out two kunai knives while Nanashi did the same as he said, __"Are you ready yet?"_

_Ishide said nothing, making Nanashi chuckle, __"I guess you are…" __Water sloshed around as the two adversaries fought over the control of the physical body and power. Ishide slashed at Nanashi's chest, but Nanashi moved backwards and dealt Ishide a roundhouse kick._

_Ishide fell backwards to see Nanashi in the air, readying a killing blow as he descended downwards to him. The Jinchuuriki quickly rolled to the side, escaping certain death and Nanashi looked up to see Ishide's foot connect with his chin._

_Ishide threw both of his kunai and Nanashi threw his own, deflecting them. "He looks like me and moves like, but he doesn't act like me…why?" Both combatants ran at each other, trading the same punches and kicks. Ishide blocked the killer's kick and dealt him a back kick to the stomach; Nanashi doubled up in pain and met an uppercut dealt by Ishide. _

_Then the Jinchuuriki jumped up and kicked him, sending his dark copy into the wall and he slumped forward to the ground. "Finally it's over…" Ishide said, exhausted._

_He glanced over at the screen to see Hinata coughing up blood and shouted, "Hinata!" But then Nanashi appeared and grabbed his arms from behind, "__Now you didn't think that you would be rid of me that easily, did ya?"__ He hissed in his ear, __"Now when I destroy you, I will be free and wreak havoc upon your world like we should have done…everyone hates us, they will never understand our burden that we share. That is why everyone must be killed, including your brother and your precious girlfriend."_

"_Don't you ever….__**EVER**__…threaten to kill Hinata-chan or Naruto-nii!" Ishide shouted as he looked behind him and Nanashi looked at Ishide's forest green eyes, __"Aww, you're mad! Good! We can end this charade once and for all! After all, everything has a beginning and an end."_

"_Yes, it does…Nanashi, however we will not end this way."_

"_What are you talking about, you incompetent fool!"_

"_You can't end me, Nanashi. You are nothing, but a non-existent spirit of darkness. A shell, a sham! Nothing hence your name…you know, you had me thinking as I was fighting. You can't end me…because you are me; you are Ishide Namikaze-Uzumaki, my inner darkness."_

_Nanashi's eyes widen and pain shot through his head as he heard his true name, __"Auuggh!"__ Nanashi pushed Ishide away and held his head, howling in pain. "There is only one way to escape the pain and that is to become one with me." Ishide said calmly._

"_Why should I trust you?! You could just seal me away again?!"_

"_Then I would never be whole and you don't want to disappear either. I am your only chance and by sealing you, I would be hindering myself again, I have been doing that for six years and I won't make that same mistake twice." _

_Nanashi managed a crooked smile through his pain, __"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's do it…so I can get rid of this headache."__ Ishide grabbed Nanashi's hand and there was a bright light surrounding the two. _

_As it dimmed, leaving Ishide standing in his mindscape, the illusion surrounding Nekoshi fell. __**"Ishide, what happened? Where is Nanashi?" **__he asked. "We have become whole again, Nekoshi. Nanashi is part of me now…I feel complete now."_

"_**Well, then…go kick some ass! Neji is about to kill Hinata!"**_

_Ishide nodded and left the mindscape._

**Flashback ENDS**

"I want two opponents…" Ishide said, "I need to push myself to the limit."

"Fine, Ishide…I will grant your request. Daisuke-san, you can choose your partner." Sarutobi said. Daisuke smirked, "Morio, you are up…" The other boy came down to the arena and Hayate said, "Ok, **Match 9:** Ishide Uzumaki versus Morio and Daisuke Kamura…begin!"

Ishide looked at the two curiously, Daisuke was a tanned, white haired guy wearing a beige coat and brown pants while his brother Morio was the same, but slightly taller and bulkier. Naruto thought to himself, "I just hope that they don't mention Hinata's name in front of him or he will kill them."

"You are going down!" Morio shouted.

"You know, I wasn't even going to try and beat my opponent because I didn't have a reason to fight….but now certain events happened and now…it's personal!" Ishide said as dark green chakra surrounded his body.

"What?"

The chakra formed over Ishide's head and formed a snarling fox head. Ishide's whisker marks grew wider and his nails sharpened, "Let's get started…" Ishide snarled as he punched Morio in the face and dealt Daisuke a roundhouse kick.

"_Ishide…he's a Jinchuuriki?!"_ The Jonin and Naruto thought to themselves.


End file.
